Thieves net Y6.7 million in 2 burglaries

TOKYO —
Thieves made off with safes containing a total of 6.7 million yen in two burglaries early Wednesday, targeting a supermarket in Kanagawa Prefecture and a restaurant in Aichi Prefecture, police said. In Kanagawa, the roof and walls around the employees’ entrance of a supermarket in the city of Ebina were smashed apparently by heavy machinery equipment and a safe containing about 2.7 million yen was found to have disappeared, police said.A nearby resident reported to the police around 3:20 a.m. that what appeared to be the arm of a piece of heavy machinery equipment was sticking out of the supermarket building. The arm is about 4 meters long. A truck was also found nearby.The resident saw several people with dark-colored knit hats and masks driving away from the site, the police said.In Aichi, meanwhile, an alarm went off at around 3:15 a.m. at a restaurant in the city of Nisshin, and security guards found a safe containing about 4 million yen missing from the employees’ break room.The safe was 35 centimeters in width and 45 cm in length, weighing about 30 kilograms. The back door of the restaurant had been forced open, police said.