Japanese police release security images of vandal chopping tulips with umbrella

Police yesterday released images from a security camera showing a man chopping down tulips with his umbrella alongside a road in Maebashi, following a spate of similar attacks in the city.

Police have launched a search for the man, who appears to be aged between his 40s and 50s.



The suspect, dressed in a suit and tie, was captured swinging his umbrella violently to lop the tops off tulips in planters near the Gunma Prefectural Government headquarters in Maebashi late on April 18.

At about 12 a.m. the following day, about 65 tulips from 18 planters were found to have been chopped down. Altogether, roughly 1,900 tulips were cut down in attacks in Maebashi on April 9, 14 and 19.