Crime & Courts

2 Japanese Robbed of ¥58 Mil. in Hong Kong; Japanese, Chinese Suspects Arrested (UPDATE 1)

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
A foreign exchange shop in Hong Kong

By Nobuha Endo / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

15:01 JST, January 31, 2026

HONG KONG — Two Japanese men were attacked and a backpack containing ¥58 million in cash was stolen by two robbers in front of a foreign exchange shop in the Sheung Wan district in central Hong Kong around 9 a.m. Friday.

According to the online edition of the Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong police announced Saturday that they had arrested six men and women in connection with the incident. Three of the six are Japanese, two are Chinese and one is a Hong Kong local.

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According to the online edition of Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, and other sources, the two victims, who arrived in Hong Kong in the morning, had been transporting a total of about ¥90 million split between the backpack and a suitcase. They were attacked while exiting a taxi.

Japan’s Metropolitan Police Department said that the two people who were attacked had reported that they were also attacked in a parking lot at Haneda Airport in Tokyo earlier in the morning.

The Hong Kong crime scene is home to many foreign exchange shops. In December last year, Chinese employees of a Japanese company dealing in crypto assets were robbed of about ¥1 billion in cash in the same district.