51吃瓜网

Robberies involving assaults have been reported this week in both Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures amid ongoing investigations into a series of incidents involving “dark” part-time jobs in the Tokyo metropolitan area since August.

Known as yami baito in Japanese, dark part-time jobs refer to illicit employment opportunities that promise unusually high pay. They typically entice individuals into engaging in specific illegal activities, such as transporting or receiving funds acquired through fraudulent means.

At around 7 a.m. on Thursday morning, a 72-year-old woman returning home from her night shift found her house in the city of Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, in disarray and called the authorities. Investigators have confirmed that the home was indeed ransacked, with a hammer and adhesive tape left behind by burglars and a glass window on the first floor broken. Additionally, a car that had been parked at the residence was missing.

In a robbery in the city of Shiroi in the same prefecture a day earlier, a woman in her 70s and her daughter, who is in her 40s, were assaulted by a group of men in their home. They sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.

While the two women were asleep, the robbers assaulted and blindfolded them. One of the men was overheard speaking on the phone. The robbers took around ?200,000 in cash and a car before fleeing, according to the police.

The men are believed to have broken into the house by smashing a window beside the front door in the early hours of the morning.

Also on Wednesday, a 75-year-old man, Hiroharu Goto, was discovered dead in his home in Aoba Ward, in the city of Yokohama, with his hands and feet bound. Investigators have found signs of an assault.

A neighbor noticed that a window beside Goto’s front door had been open since the previous day, and contacted the authorities.

When officers arrived at the scene, the front door was closed but the adjacent window was broken and partially open, which allowed entry, according to the police.

Investigators found Goto’s body near the bathroom, with bruises indicating that he may have been attacked by multiple assailants. Authorities are also checking for any missing items from the residence. His family, who lived with him, was not home at the time.

The method of breaking into Goto’s house — a detached building — and the manner in which he was bound resemble those employed in a series of robberies in the metropolitan area carried out by perpetrators recruited through dark part-time job postings, police said. They are investigating the possibility of the cases being connected.