BANGKOK, Oct 26 (TNA) - Thai tourist police on Monday arrested a Japanese man allegedly heading a Japanese organised crime syndicate while he was escaping to a neighbouring country.
Pol Lt-Gen Thangai Prasjaksattru, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), said 37-year-old Kimio Masa Yoshimoto, head of Yamaguchi, a Japanese crime group, was arrested in downtown Bangkok after Thai authorities coordinated with Japanese police.
Gen Thangai said that Mr Kimio is a person wanted by the Japanese authorities as he was issued a May 2006 arrest warrant in Osaka for the attempted killing by shooting of three members of a gang in his network, wounding them seriously.
He escaped to Thailand using a counterfeit passport and has stayed in Thailand for about three years.
The Thai police officer said Kimio's crime syndicate had transferred money to cover his living costs here, and that while the gangster has a Thai girlfriend.
Commissioner Thangai said that Mr Kimio was arrested twice this year by Thai police. In January, he was nabbed for blackmailing a Thai woman to give him 2 million baht in exchange for handing over her sex video clip. He was released on bail but later jumped bail.
Mr Kimio was again arrested mid-October for drug possession but jumped bail a second time.
According to preliminary investigation, Gen. Thangai said, Mr Kimio confessed that he is Yamaguchi boss and has been member of the gang since he was 15 years old.
Mr Kimio, however, having an arrest warrant in Japan, and insisted he has committed no crime as charged by the Thai authorities.
Gen Thangai said initially Mr Kimio will go through Thai legal process for jumping bail multiple times and for blackmailing. After that the Thai authorities will coordinate with the Japanese Embassy in Thailand for his extradition. (TNA)
General News : Last Update : 19:11:31 26 October 2009 (GMT+7:00)
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