Japanese thief steals thousands of dollars of fish from Kobe market, cleans up after himself

Japan’s seafood proves itself to be criminally delicious.

Living in Japan gives you access to some of the best seafood in the world, as it’s an island nation where being a serious foodie has been more or less the norm for generations. Fish here is of consistently high quality in grocery stores and restaurants, but if you want the most delicious specimens, you’ll need to go to one of the country’s dedicated fish markets.

That was the plan of the man in the video below, shared by FNN. However, you may notice that the market, which is located in Kobe’s Nada Ward, looks suspiciously devoid of shoppers or staff, and that’s because the man sneaked in after hours.

What you’ll also notice is that when he comes out of the market, he’s carrying a bucket and a large, full bag, neither of which he had when he went in. That’s because he’s suspected of being behind a string of recent robberies at the market, helping himself to roughly a dozen varieties of prized premium-priced fish such as sea bream and longtooth grouper.

In the security footage shown above, some four hours pass between when the man first appears and finally leaves the market. His lengthy stay isn’t just because he’s taking his time to browse the selection, though. Merchants report that the thief is actually cleaning the fish he steals right there in their shops. “He’s got a lot of nerve. He uses my cutting board like it belongs to him,” grumbles Noboru Otani, one of the fishmongers whose shop has been hit, though he adds that the thief also washes the board he uses before leaving.

Small acts of consideration aside, the robberies are still legitimate crimes, with the total cost of the stolen fish estimated to be in the neighborhood of 200,000 yen (US$1,830). The police are proceeding with the investigation under the working theory that the perpetrator is someone with knowledge about seafood, though it’s unknown if he’s stealing the fish to resell on some sort of sashimi black market, or simply eating them himself.

Source: Yahoo! Japan News/FNN via Hachima Kiko, FNN Prime
Top image: Photo Chips

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