Photo/Illutration Investigators at the scene of the jewelry heist in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward on Nov. 20, 2015 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Three British men on Interpol’s wanted list over a violent jewel heist in Tokyo in 2015 have been captured in Britain, sources with Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department said.

A hearing will be held in Britain to decide whether to transfer custody of the three suspects to Japan for prosecution.

Japan has signed criminal extradition treaties only with the United States and South Korea. Japan has never received a criminal suspect from a country with which it does not have an extradition agreement.

In general, countries are reluctant to extradite their citizens to other nations.

According to the sources, two of the three suspects were captured by British authorities for their suspected involvement in another crime.

The third suspect was detained in Britain in connection with the Tokyo jewelry heist, according to the sources.

The robbery occurred at a Harry Winston store inside the swank Omotesando Hills complex in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward on the night of Nov. 20, 2015.

Three men smashed jewelry showcases and took 46 items, such as rings, worth 106 million yen ($789,000).

A male security guard was badly beaten in the robbery.

The trio fled Japan two days after the robbery.

The Metropolitan Police Department obtained arrest warrants for the three suspects in October 2017 on suspicion of robbery resulting in bodily injury and other criminal acts.

The MPD asked the International Criminal Police Organization to place the three on the international wanted list.

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