43 from international Toyota car theft ring arrested in central Japan

November 12, 1:19 AM

Japan Headlines Examiner
Joshua Williams

(Toyota press release)Forty three people, more than have of which were non-Japanese, have been arrested in central Japan in relations to a string of 500 car thefts over a period of about one year.

From July of 2008 to August of 2009, around 500 cars, primarily Toyota Hiace vans, were stole in five prefectures in Central Japan: Aichi, Gifu, Hyogo, Osaka, and Shiga. Investigators said that the total value of the stole vehicles is estimated to have been approximately 570 million yen (about $6.3 million USD), according to 47news.

The crime ring was made up at least 43 members from six countries, including 18 Japanese, 12 Brazilians, and 9 Nigerians. In groups of two or three they would steal the vans by first breaking into the side doors, Seikei news reported. Once take, the vans would be dissembled and smuggled overseas from ports in Kobe and Osaka to countries in the Middle East and Africa were demand for their parts is high.

Toyota Hiaces appear to have been chosen because their engines can endure the hot dry weather of the regions they were being ship to, as well as the relative ease of which they can be taken apart.

Further investigation into other possibly related car thefts is still underway.