Japan shoplifter dies after two-beer heist -report

TOKYO, Sep 5 (Reuters) Japanese police arrested a supermarket manager today on suspicion of beating a man to death for stealing two cans of beer.

The 40-year-old supermarket manager is thought to have dragged the man to a storage area at the back of the shop in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, yesterday and beaten him around the stomach and face before leaving him in the road, Kyodo news agency said.

A passer-by called an ambulance, but the man later died in hospital, the agency said.

''I never thought he would die,'' Kyodo quoted the supermarket manager as telling police.

Local police said they were trying to confirm the identity of the victim, who appeared to be in his 50s or 60s.

REUTERS CS DS1155