JAPAN THIEF ARRESTED FOR STEALING COMPUTERS FROM 50 NATIONAL UNIVERSITIESDaily Yomiuri On-Line A 38-year-old man who was arrested in October on suspicion of stealing computers and other items from Kyushu University in Fukuoka has told police he repeatedly committed thefts targeting national and public universities in 39 prefectures, it was learned Friday.

The police believe Hideyuki Miura, unemployed of Fukuoka, stole goods worth about 80 million yen from 50 national and public universities throughout the nation.

Miura was quoted as telling the police that national and public universities were less strictly guarded than private universities.

Miura allegedly broke into a research building of Kyushu University's agricultural department in September. He was arrested the following month for having stolen 10 items, including at least one laptop computer and cell phone, worth 1.28 million yen, from the building.

The police later discovered Miura had broken into a Kobe University science faculty building on the night of Aug. 29, stealing seven items, including some computers and about 100,000 yen in cash.

It also was found that Miura had committed similar thefts at other universities, including Kawaga University, Hiroshima University and Kyoto University, since August 2000.

The stolen items include 390 computers, 100 digital cameras, about 3.3 million yen in cash and vouchers valued at about 1 million yen, according to the police.

Most of the stolen computers were auctioned for between 80,000 yen and 150,000 yen over the Internet through Miura's acquaintance. Data preserved in the computers was not made public because it was deleted before the computers were auctioned. Academic papers and students' dissertations in the data reportedly disappeared.

Miura allegedly traveled by Shinkansen train or airplane and shuttled by taxi between the hotel where he was staying and the university he targeted. He spent about 25 million yen that he had obtained by selling stolen computers and other items on entertainment, wining and dining.