SYDNEY (AFP) - – Three Australian muggers who struck near a
martial arts school got the fright of their lives when five
black-clad ninjas foiled their attack.
The trio, who were beating and kicking a trainee medic from
Germany, fled in panic when the student ninjas aged 18 to 47 raced
out of the nearby hall where they had been training.
"They all just froze," said Kaylan Soto, 42, who was training
the students. "Then they just took off. I've never seen guys
running that fast. They should have been in the Olympics -- they
would have won gold."
Soto said the ninjitsu class was wrapping up late on Tuesday
when one of his students went outside and saw the men attacking the
27-year-old German, who was near the end of an eight-week exchange
visit.
"He called out to me, 'Sensei (teacher), someone's getting
mugged on the road outside!'" Soto told AFP.
"We just ran outside and started running at them, yelling and
everything. These guys have turned around and seen five ninjas in
black ninja uniforms running towards them. They just bolted."
Police said two men aged 16 and 20 had been arrested over the
attack and released a picture of a third aged between 15 and
17.
Soto said the German, who had his mobile phone and iPod stolen,
could have escaped the beating with training in ninjitsu -- a
Japanese martial art focusing on stealth, pressure points and
weaponry.
"For the attackers it was a very unlucky place to do it --
somewhere where you've got a martial arts ninja school up the
road," he said.
"You read stories like this but you would think it never
happens. They just picked the wrong spot."
