SAITAMA (TR) – Saitama Prefectural Police have launched a theft investigation after 1 million yen in cash belonging to a detained suspect mysteriously vanished from a police station safe, reports TBS News (Oct. 14).
The missing funds were discovered at the Omiya Police Station in April. According to police, an official comparing the station’s accounting ledger against the actual cash stored in the safe found a shortage of exactly 1 million yen. The money was being held in trust after being confiscated from a suspect who had been arrested and detained at the facility.
Internal regulations dictate that entrusted cash must be verified on a regular basis. However, the station had failed to conduct a periodic audit since July of last year. Due to this administrative oversight, investigators are currently unable to pinpoint exactly when the money disappeared.
Believing the cash may have been pocketed by someone working inside the station following the July audit, police are now treating the disappearance as a theft. Multiple police officers are currently being questioned in connection with the missing funds.