A Japanese man believed to run call-centre scam gangs in Cambodia and Vietnam has been arrested for a string of crimes in his home country following a police raid on a rented house in Bangkok.
The suspect, identified only as Yamakushi, was wanted on warrants issued in Japan for physical assault, fraud, theft and violations of organised crime control legislation, Pol Gen Thatchai Pitaneelaboot, a Royal Thai Police inspector-general, said yesterday.
The Immigration Bureau (IB) revoked his visa on March 13 at the request of Japanese authorities and set out to locate him. IB officers subsequently found Mr Yamakushi walking near a housing estate where he lived.
They informed him his visa had been revoked. He was later taken to the bureau's Immigration Division 3 for questioning, Pol Gen Thatchai said at a press conference. Naoto Watanabe, a police attaché with the Japanese embassy in Thailand, also attended.
According to the investigation, Mr Yamakushi was a former boss of a yakuza gang in Japan and leader of call-centre scam gangs in Cambodia and Vietnam preying on Japanese victims.
Entry records showed he frequently entered Thailand and rented a house for 180,000 baht a month in the capital's Sathon district.
An extended investigation found that the suspect set up Last Samurai Japan Co last year. The firm bought and sold artwork at high prices, leading police to believe the business might have been used for laundering money.
A search of the rented house found four other Japanese nationals staying there. All had criminal records in their home country, investigators said.
Police believe the four might be linked to Last Samurai Japan Co. They had assets worth more than 30 million baht in digital wallets.
The investigation was continuing, said Pol Gen Thatchai.
