Police Catch "Chameleon" Bag-Snatcher

[Mulboyne]

Australian: Stripping bag-snatcher nabbed
POLICE in Japan have caught a serial handbag snatcher dubbed "the chameleon" after eluding arrest for years by stripping off as he fled the scenes of his crimes. Hiroshi Ishihara, a 42-year-old resident of Osaka, would wear three to five T-shirts or jerseys and take them off one by one as he fled, a police official said today. "He is believed to have been snatching bags for four to five years. Our investigators had been calling him the chameleon as he changed clothes or wore camouflage outfits to merge into the background," he said. "By the time we radioed in that the culprit was wearing black clothes, he was wearing white or red." Police caught Ishihara earlier this month as he cycled to his parked car after being identified on security cameras. He had confessed to snatching more than 60 handbags, but police suspected he was responsible for 200 to 300 thefts. Most of his victims were women he robbed as they were getting out of taxis at night, figuring they had cash. He later pawned the handbags, police said.