Photo/Illutration Police officers search a neighborhood in Yokohama’s Aoba Ward on Oct. 16 after an elderly resident was killed in a robbery. (Naoko Kawamura)

Authorities have arrested nearly 40 people linked to the recent wave of home invasion robberies across the Tokyo area, but the masterminds behind the crime spree remain at large.

Investigators traced more than 30 messaging app accounts to the robberies, but the crime ring uses encrypted apps, which complicates efforts to identify who is giving the orders.

On Oct. 2, police arrested a man on suspicion of recruiting perpetrators online for a robbery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, last month. This is the first arrest of a suspected recruiter linked to the crimes.

Thirty-nine individuals have been arrested in connection with 18 robberies since August. Most of the suspects are believed to be lower-level perpetrators, such as intruders, lookouts and getaway drivers, acting on orders from their superiors.

Others are suspected of supplying crowbars to the robbers, using stolen credit cards or helping to collect stolen items.

Some suspects are believed to have been involved in multiple robberies.

Twenty-six of the 39 suspects are in their 20s and eight are in their 30s. The list also includes four teenagers and one fortysomething individual.

Notably, many of the suspects are first-time offenders with regular day jobs who were recruited for shady work through social media, authorities said.

In the 18 robberies, one person was killed and more than 10 others were injured.

Police are also investigating whether there is a connection between the crime spree around the capital and robberies and attempted robberies that occurred in September and October in Hokkaido, Tochigi and Yamaguchi prefectures and elsewhere.

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