TOKYO - Unemployed Mitsuka Suizu, 61, reportedly told officers: “I wanted to keep the books I read” after they discovered 896 volumes at his home in Ube, western  Japan.

A police spokesman said Suizu was initially arrested for the theft of 12 books over a six-month period, but a search of his home revealed his huge stash, which the Yomiuri Shimbun said were worth a combined 2 million yen ($25,000).

Under Japan’s penal code, theft is punishable by up to 10 years in jail or a  fine of up to 500,000 yen.