Missing identity checks figure in Tokyo stolen-cable investigation

A metal buyer could face Japan's first administrative sanction under an anti-metal-theft law, according to the report.

Channel: Nippon TV News ·

JapanStory of November 3, 2026Trari Newsroom

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【金属買取業者に家宅捜索】「身分確認すると客が来なくなる｣盗まれた電線ケーブルを常習的に買い取りか東京･あきる野市

Checking sellers' identities would drive customers away, a metal-buying company's representative reportedly told Tokyo police investigating purchases of stolen electrical cables.

Japan's Nippon Television News reports that investigators searched the business in Akiruno, western Tokyo, on November 2. Police suspect it repeatedly bought cables stolen from electric-vehicle charging stations. Footage shows police vehicles arriving at the premises and investigators loading cardboard boxes of seized items into a vehicle.

The report says the business is suspected of failing to carry out identity checks required under a law aimed at combating metal theft. It is expected to face what the broadcaster describes as the country's first administrative sanction under that law. The report does not say that a sanction has already been imposed.

A man in his thirties who sold cables to the business has already been arrested on suspicion of stealing them from charging stations and other locations, the broadcaster says. The investigation therefore extends beyond the suspected thefts to the business that bought the cables and its handling of sellers' identities.

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