Investigators can finally close the book on “The God of Toilets Case.”

Investigators in Chiba Prefecture had a hard case to crack. Sure, they’re trained to deal with criminals, but this time around, they weren’t up against just any common crook. They were up against a god…of toilets.

OK, odds are none of the officers genuinely thought they were trying to catch a literal divine being. However, after a string of serial toilet thefts took place in Funabashi City, they started dubbing the caper “The God of Toilets Case.”

It all began back in October, when a construction crew part-way through building a house in Funabashi showed up to the job site to discover the toilet had disappeared since their last shift. It wasn’t long until another porcelain throne vanished from a different under-construction house, and from there the reports kept coming in, with the eventual commode count reaching 18 pilfered poop pots.

But the police finally have their god/man, having traced the thefts to 26-year-old office worker Ryusei Takada, who was arrested and taken into custody earlier this week. Takada was previously employed at a home construction company, and it’s likely that his knowledge of on-site work flow and common security measures enabled him to continue his crapper crime spree for as long as he did.

▼ “The God of Toilets” is also a surprisingly emotional song by Japanese pop singer Kana Uemura.

Takada, who has admitted to the thefts, said he stole the toilets, as well as other items from the construction sites, in order to sell them at second-hand stores to help pay for living expenses. Honestly, we had no idea second-hand stores even bought toilets, and it’s hard to imagine they’re something a lot of people come in selling. The police have not publicly announced how they tracked Takada down, but it’s possible that eventually word got around the local shop owners about some guy who always seemed to have a spare, good-as-new toilet he was looking to unload, which gave the police the lead they needed.

Sources: FNN Prime Online via Livedoor News via Hachima Kiko, Nitele News 24
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