Cops probing yakuza links in Thailand after Japanese call centre gang busted
Police are probing possible yakuza criminal operations in Thailand after charging five Japanese nationals with operating a call centre scam in Bangkok.
The five men have been charged on seven counts including imprisoning a victim, said Kannayao police chief Colonel Naren Kruengsanook.
The case has been under the media spotlight since Sunday, when police and Japanese Embassy officials raided a residence in Bangkok's Bang Khen district.
The raid was launched after a Japanese man managed to escape from the residence and alert his embassy.
The alleged victim said he travelled to Thailand on December 8 after the gang offered him a job in Bangkok.
Police arrested Kawabata Kotaro, Hirota Junya, Naramura Kenji, Tomonari Satoshi and Suzuki Takafumi and initially charged them with imprisoning a fellow Japanese national. Six more charges followed, namely international criminal activity, human trafficking, threats, imprisonment, racketeering, confiscating a person’s documents, and failing to notify authorities about relocation of residence.
Col Naren said Kotaro, 39, has tattoos consistent with membership of a Japanese yakuza criminal network. Police are now investigating whether he is connected to other international crime activities in Thailand.
Naren said the Bang Khen gang operated by calling mostly elderly victims in Japan, pretending to be hospital staff and offering discounts for treatment in exchange for their bank account details. Then, another gang member called the victim pretending to be a bank official and asked for the account’s PIN because “banking abnormalities” had been detected.
