Chinese thieves arrested for spate of hotel robberies targeting snoring Japanese salarymen
- They listened out for sleeping guests before sneaking in and taking thousands of dollars worth of valuables
- Police admitted to being ‘amazed’ at the suspects’ ingenious methods of gaining access to rooms without their occupants realising
Three Chinese men who chose hotel rooms to rob by listening out for snoring guests have been arrested in the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka, according to local police.
Liu Chenmin, a 44-year-old taxi driver from Jiangxi Province, was arrested along with Lai Zhenchun and Liu Minzhong as they flew into the city’s airport, the Nikkan Gendai news magazine reported.
Police admitted to being “amazed” at the suspects’ ingenious methods of gaining access to hotel rooms without their occupants realising.
During questioning, the three men said they purposely selected business hotels that catered to busy salarymen on work trips. Entering the hotel in the early hours of the morning, they would pause outside the door of a room and select those with the audible sound of snoring inside.
Taking advantage of the relatively wide gap under the room door – designed to allow a morning newspaper to be slipped beneath – one of the team would slide an L-shaped wire into the room and manipulate the lock from inside.