Police in Fukuoka City announced on Friday that they arrested three 17-year-old males, including one construction worker, for allegedly shoplifting the first 57 volumes of the popular manga One Piece. According to the police report, the three stole the 57 volumes, worth 23,440 yen (about US$291.30), from a bookstore in Fukuoka's central Chūō ward on April 28 at about 5:15 p.m.

The three suspects allegedly put the 57 books into shopping baskets and took the escalator down from the fourth floor. A suspicious security guard followed them as they reportedly did not go through the checkout on the first floor and instead attempted to leave the store from the second basement floor. The guard detained the construction worker, but the two other suspects — an unemployed minor and a parttime-working minor — initially fled.

The parttime-working suspect denied the charge, but the other two allegedly admitted under deposition to getting the manga for themselves.