Japanese police arrest underwear thief suspected of stealing more than 700 bras and panties from laundromats

Police have arrested Tetsuo Urata on suspicion of stealing 730 pieces of women’s underwear from coin laundries, after a 21-year-old college student alerted authorities that six pairs of her underwear had disappeared.

Authorities in the southern Japanese city of Beppu raided 56-year-old Tetsuo Urata’s home in late August and told media they “haven’t confiscated such a large number of panties in years.”

Police seized 730 pieces of female underwear during the search, which followed accusations towards Tetsuo from an unnamed 21-year-old female college student. She told police Tetsuo had pilfered six pairs of her underwear in a laundromat on August 24.

The accused reportedly confessed to stealing the large quantity of underwear found at his property.

The seemingly uncanny case of underwear theft is actually not so uncommon in Japan. In March, Takahiro Kubo, a 30-year-old electrician, was accused by authorities of stealing 424 pieces of underwear and swimsuits from teenage girls in the southwestern Saga prefecture. In 2019, police found more than 1,100 items of female underwear kept in futon cases after raiding the home of Toru Adachi in a coastal Oita prefecture, another busted Japanese underwear thief suspect.