300 Million Yen Robbery - Robbery

Robbery

On the morning of December 10, 1968, four Kokubunji branch employees of the Nihon Shintaku Ginko (bank) transported 294,307,500 yen (about $817,520 US Dollars at 1968 exchange rates) in the trunk of a company car. The metal boxes contained bonuses for the employees of Toshiba's Fuchu factory. They were stopped in the street next to Tokyo Fuchu prison by a young uniformed officer on a police motorcycle. The policeman informed them that their branch manager's house had been blown up, and they had received a warning that dynamite had been planted in the transport car. The four employees exited the vehicle while the officer crawled under the car to locate the bomb. Moments later, the employees noticed smoke and flames under the car as the officer rolled out, shouting that it was about to explode. When the employees retreated to the prison walls, the policeman got into the car and drove away.