Yakuza exec arrested for stealing Peko-chan doll

[Wednesday 02nd September, 04:38 PM JST WAKAYAMA — Police have arrested an executive of a crime syndicate for allegedly stealing a Peko-chan mascot doll from a store of confectionery maker Fujiya Co. in the city of Wakayama, police officials said Wednesday. Hiroshi Inaba, 42, who was arrested Tuesday in Osaka Prefecture over the theft in February of the life-size doll of a 6-year-old girl licking her chops, has denied part of the allegations saying the actual theft was committed by an accomplice, according to the Wakayama prefectural police.The dolls are thought to trade for around 150,000 yen to 200,000 yen among collectors. Police are looking for a 37-year-old male acquaintance of Inaba on suspicion of conspiracy in connection with the case.Around 10 cases of theft involving Peko-chan dolls have been reported in Wakayama Prefecture since January and police have found that 10 of the dolls were sold at two recycle shops in the city of Osaka. Police are checking whether the doll stolen in the latest incident was among them, they said.According to police, Inaba is suspected of stealing one of the dolls, which are around 1 meter in height, weigh 10 kilograms and cost about 40,000 yen to produce, from inside a Fujiya shop in the city of Wakayama around 3 p.m. on Feb 12.‘‘The main Fujiya store had instructed us to put the doll inside the shop after a series of Peko-chan thefts had been reported in the Kinki region since early February,’’ said a 47-year-old woman who manages the Wakayama Fujiya store where the doll was stolen.‘‘This is the third time our doll has been stolen and we are worried whether Peko-chan will return,’’ she said.Peko-chan, introduced by Fujiya in 1950 in front of a store in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district to attract people and boost sales, will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year.]