News Shrine and temples burgled

[thomas]

Perhaps it's related to the economic slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but these days shrines and temples seem to be burgled more often. Today, the police released a video of a 3-week (!) operation that culminated in the thief's arrest in Saitama: he had stolen coins from several shrines. His loot: 655 yen. The officers had been lurking under tarps for over 4 hours, some of them in camouflaged sniper suits.


Source: Saitama's finest catch coin thief at shrine after multi-week stakeout

Those two were also filmed, got away with 30,000 yen but turned themselves in when the video was released.

To catch 2 thieves: Nagoya shrine posts video of cash theft on YouTube – TokyoReporter

www.tokyoreporter.com

1,500 yen in this case in Yokohama:

77-year-old man arrested for stealing money from shrine donation box

Police in Yokohama on Sunday arrested a 77-year-old man on suspicion of stealing 1,500 yen from a wooden box for monetary donations at a shrine in June. According to police, the man, of no fixed address, said he came from Okinawa, Sankei Shimbun. Police said that on the night of…

japantoday.com

I have seen a young guy in our neighbourhood temple fishing for coins with a "sticky belt" and an older fellow manipulating the donation box at a nearby shrine during the New Year holidays who ran off after our dog started barking at him. I wonder what sentences they receive when caught.