In a story that sounds like something out of Fast and Furious, three college-aged males were arrested in connection with a sports car that was stolen back in April. While the theft of a brand-new sports car is shocking enough, it turns out that immediately after stealing the car the three headed to a racetrack where they entered a competition and came in the top three!
Online, netizens were stunned at the brazen stupidity of the suspects but also amused by the absurdity of the whole situation, with some even praising the three for their driving skills.
From Yahoo! Japan:
“Race Won With Stolen Sports Car, 3 Arrested On Charges Of Theft
On September 2nd, the Shijonawate police in Osaka Prefecture announced they had arrested three male college students (20 years old) from Kuraji, Katano Cityfor stealing a high-class race car and that they had concluded their investigation after collecting evidence to put the suspects on trial for three charges (approx. 27 million yen total ). The three reportedly admitted to the crime, saying they “liked race cars”.
According to Shijonawate police, back in April the men had stolen a Nissan GT-R, known as a top-class sports car (worth roughly 16 million yen) in Kobe City, then immediately afterwards entered into a race held at a race course in Hyogo Prefecture where they came in first. A picture of the stolen GT-R with the men standing on the winner’s podium in the middle was displayed on the racing course’s homepage.
The men stand accused of stealing the GT-R sports car at a car dealership in Chuo-ku, Kobe along with an unemployed 21-year-old man from Daito City.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan::
辻野ヒロシ:
Motorsports Announcer/Journalist
It’s truly sad that this kind of news is the only way motorsports makes it to the frontpage. All the information including the bit about the race course is vague, and there’s nothing mentioned in the article about the suspects’ names or the name of their university. We don’t know the names of the person from whom the car was stolen, whether the car was a stock car or a car outfitted for racing, or even whether this was a real race or if they were competing for time during a private event. If a GT-R with racing specs had been stolen, it would probably already become a hot topic in the industry, and it must have been carried by a transport vehicle which might mean it was just a stock car outfitted with a roll cage.
Motorsports is conducted by vehicles that obey the rules, and a sport that people who can’t obey must not participate in. Even if it were an unofficial, privately-held competition where the racers took full responsibility, it would cause problems if people who don’t follow rules were allowed to participate later on. The event promoters probably wouldn’t have any of it. I wish the reporting were more specific
rho*****:
Winning a race in a stolen car…wha a bunch of morons.
ぶりぶり:
The GT-Rs amazing, but these guys also had the skill to succeed and yet…
What disappointments they are.
dwd*****:
Huh, so they didn’t sell it off?
I get that they like cars, but winning a race with a stolen car is pointless.
If they’ve got the skills to win, I hope they can work at it honestly.
亀夫:
A car worth 160 million yen is pretty easy to steal, I guess.
tam*****:
They have got some amazing skills, both in stealing and racing
Comments from 2ch::
名無しさん＠１周年:
Strange that no one is publishing the name of their school
名無しさん＠１周年:
Hilarious www
These guys are crazy
名無しさん＠１周年:
Since it was someone else’s car, there was no big loss if it got totaled. That’s probably why they went all out.
But they’re idiots for taking a picture on the winner’s podium w
名無しさん＠１周年:
I can’t believe there are people out so utterly stupid…
名無しさん＠１周年:
These guys are really enjoying life
I envy them.
名無しさん＠１周年:
I wonder how they were feeling when their picture was taken. Unbelievably stupid.
名無しさん＠１周年:
What they lack in brains, they make up for in driving technique.
名無しさん＠１周年:
Regular participants don’t want to bang up the cars they spent all that money to get. Participants who stole their cars go full throttle!
That’s probably the kind of feeling that allowed them to win, don’t you think?
名無しさん＠１周年:
Amazing w, they stole a car and won w But it seems like there could potentially be copycats, since the names weren’t made public even though they stole a GT-R.
名無しさん＠１周年:
I want to know why they thought everything would be fine after they stole the car.
名無しさん＠１周年:
I wonder how they stole it.
There’s no way they would have known about something like the key to the storage facility
