Employees of reptile maid cafe Hachu Melt hold two armadillo girdled lizards, left, and a shingleback lizard, which were safely returned to the cafe in Fukuoka's Chuo Ward, in this photo taken on Sept. 20, 2021. (Mainichi/Masashi Yomogida)

       FUKUOKA -- A man in this southwestern Japan city was arrested Sept. 20 on suspicion of intruding into a maid cafe where customers can pet reptiles and other animals and stealing three rare lizards with a total market value of 3.2 million yen (roughly $29,000).

       Yusuke Haruta, a 38-year-old office worker, is specifically accused by Fukuoka Prefectural Police of intruding into reptile maid cafe Hachu Melt in Fukuoka's Chuo Ward, between around 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 16 and 10:50 a.m. the following day, and of stealing the lizards.

       On Sept. 20, Haruta turned himself in at Hakata Police Station with the three animals. He said he visited the cafe as a customer, and reportedly admitted to the allegations, saying, "I love lizards and wanted them. I cared for them at home."

       The cafe said the stolen animals were two armadillo girdled lizards (measuring about 15-20 centimeters long) native to South Africa and worth 1.2 million yen (some $11,000) each, and a shingleback lizard (about 30 cm long) from Australia worth 800,000 yen (approx. $7,300). Imports of them are currently restricted, and they were apparently the most popular of the cafe's roughly 50 reptiles.

       The cafe posted on social media its security camera footage from the time of the theft and called for the lizards' return. All three were apparently safe, and a 26-year-old employee in charge of the animals' care said, "I thought the culprit knew a lot about reptiles because they targeted small, expensive lizards. I was worried because lizards are less tolerant of temperature changes, and it had turned cold in the morning. I'm relieved they haven't gotten weak."

       (Japanese original by Masashi Yomogida, Fukuoka News Department)

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