Yakuza Member Arrested in Japan for Trafficking 15 Kilos of Meth from Mexico
6 people have been arrested in Japan for allegedly smuggling stimulants from Mexico by hiding the drugs in small machinery shipments. The six include a senior member of a Yakuza gang affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai syndicate.
Investigative sources say they allegedly smuggled about 15 kilograms of stimulants last June for commercial purposes. The drug reportedly has a street value of ¥940 million, or about $6 million.
The sources say customs authorities found the stimulants hidden in rollers of imported small conveyor belts at Narita International Airport. They say investigators suspect a Mexican drug cartel is involved.
The conveyor belt roller was shipped by air cargo from Mexico to Japan in June last year. The large and heavy items such as the rollers are not commonly shipped this way due to high costs. Customs officials grew suspicious and dismantled the roller for closer examination.
The drugs were discovered in the roller that was put inside a wooden box measuring 170 by 130 centimeters at Narita Airport. Police and narcotic control agents say there have been a growing number of cases in which illegal drugs are smuggled into the country hidden in machinery imports.
Senior Yakuza Member Arrested
Sumiyoshi-kai Syndicate
Matsugoro Ito initially founded the organization as a Tokyo Shibaura area bakuto (gambler) union in the early Meiji Era (late 1800s). Though Yakuza organizations usually take on the name of their founder or their founding location, Ito named his group the “Sumiyoshi Family” after his birthplace in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi Sumiyoshi-cho. Following WWII, Shigesaku Abe was elected to the 3rd socho (supreme leader), who adopted expansionist policies. Japan recognizes the current formation of the organization taking place in 1958 (when they began to keep records on the Yakuza).
Unlike the other two largest Yakuza organizations (Yamaguchi-gumi and Inagawa-kai), the Sumiyoshi-kai operates more like a loose federation of many gangs centered around the Sumiyoshi-ikka.
Hareaki Fukuda (right), kaicho of the Sumiyoshi-kai, pictured with Hidetoshi Tanaka (left), Chief Director of Japan University and Vice Director of the Olympic Commission. |
The Sumiyoshi-kai is a government-designated “boryokudan” (criminal organization), which places members and associates on various watch lists, preventing them from taking out loans, renting apartments, etc.
According to US authorities, the Sumiyoshi-kai, are involved in serious criminal activities, including weapons trafficking, prostitution, human trafficking, drug trafficking, fraud, and money laundering.
Decline of the Yakuza in Japan
As of 2022, the largest organization, Yamaguchi-gumi had 8,100 members in total, down 400 from the previous year, accounting for 36.2% of all organized crime members in Japan. The next-largest organization, Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, had 6,100 members when it was formed in 2015, but its ranks have thinned to just 760 today.
According to the National Police Agency, members and associates of designated crime syndicates numbered 22,400 as of the end of 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 1,700. This marks the eighteenth consecutive year-on-year decline and the lowest number on record since 1958 when statistics were first kept.
The number of members and associates arrested in 2022 fell by 1,832, to 9,903, dipping below 10,000 for the first time. The decrease takes place against the overall decline in the power of organized crime, with a majority of the arrests being for stimulant-related crimes.
The largest number of arrests was for violations of the Stimulants Control Act (2,141), followed by cases of fraud (1,424), assault resulting in injury (1,424), theft (847), violations of the Cannabis Control Act (619), and extortion (453). In addition, there were 79 arrests for murder.
Source: https://www.borderlandbeat.com/2024/04/yakuza-member-arrested-in-japan-for.html
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15 kilos of meth? That is a US Congressional weekend order. Not even a long weekend.