Crime Luffy gang: series of brutal burglaries rocking Kanto

Police believe Oshio's murder may have been carried out by the same gang that has been responsible for at least 10 house robberies and jewelry store thefts in several prefectures in the Kanto region, as well as Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures since November.

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Earlier on Thursday afternoon, police in Chofu, Tokyo, received a call from Chiba police, saying that a message on the smartphone of a man arrested on Jan 12 for a robbery in Oamishirasato, Chiba Prefecture, indicated that Oshio's house was being targeted for a job. The smartphone belonged to a Self-Defense Force member in his 20s from Mie Prefecture. NHK reported Sunday that gang members are believed to have been recruited on an Instagram site. The mobile phone of Rikuto Nagata, 21, who was arrested for a Nakano house robbery in which six men stole 30 million yen, also listed several addresses in Adachi Ward, including one residence which was robbed. Another message contained the words "Komae City" with a comment, "I will contact you once there is an opening."

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Police said the escalating series of robberies are becoming more violent. At first, elderly victims in their homes were bound but in the most recent cases, victims have been beaten with hammers and other blunt objects to force them to hand over cash and items of value.

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mdchachi said:

what. And that's why you don't see people complain about the death penalty. Sometimes it's preferred.

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In the Inagi case, the police believe the suspects colluded in forcefully entering a residence, injuring a resident and stealing gold bullion and other valuables and some 35 million yen ($271,000) in cash. One of the eight has been released pending a decision. [...] According to the police, the majority of those arrested appear to have been recruited online. One suspect has reportedly told officers that he "told them about me and my family, and I couldn't get out of it because I was afraid my family would be hurt." Some of the eight are linked to other incidents believed to have been the group's work, with three of them previously indicted for an attempted robbery in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in November last year. Two are suspected to have been involved in an attempted murder and robbery in Hiroshima and a robbery causing injury in Tokyo's Nakano Ward, both in December.

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Police have requested the transfer of the four men to Japan from Manila after obtaining arrest warrants on suspicion of theft in relation to the fraud, which targeted elderly people in Japan. The suspects named in the arrest warrants include Yuki Watanabe and Kiyoto Imamura. The four are believed to be behind a spate of robberies starting last year that used similar tactics to the fraud operation, including offering large payouts to individuals recruited to stage the crimes. In November 2019, authorities in the Philippines detained 36 Japanese men in connection with the fraud group, which used a hotel in Manila as its base to make calls to targets in Japan. All the men were returned to Japan between 2020 and 2021 and arrested for theft.

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He surfaced on Japanese police radar following a series of arrests in Japan in connection with the robbery cases. Police analyzed records of phones seized from the suspects and found that a person using the name Luffy provided instructions from the Philippines of locations to hit. One puzzling aspect of the case is that he was being held at an immigration detention centre when some crimes were committed. "Luffy" is a character in " One Piece ", a popular manga series."

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The Japanese police have been requesting the transfer of the suspects from Manila, where they are being detained. The Philippine justice minister has expressed hope to "solve the problem" by Monday, ahead of the planned visit to Japan by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. starting Wednesday. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has also told reporters that the Philippines is seeking to deport all four suspects together. The four likely include a person or persons thought to have masterminded the robberies under the names "Luffy" and "Kim." They are suspected of organizing a series of robberies in Japan that began last year, remotely coordinating the operation from the immigration facility using an encrypted messaging app. Japan has sought their transfer after police obtained arrest warrants on suspicion of theft in connection with a scam targeting elderly people in Japan. Among the four, Yuki Watanabe was allegedly one of the leaders of the fraud group, which stole about 3.5 billion yen ($27 million) in around 2,300 cases between November 2018 and June 2020, according to police.

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Authorities say they targeted the elderly and stole or cheated their victims of billions of yen. From their jail in the Philippines, the men managed to recruit accomplices in Japan to carry out the robberies. One of them is said to be the mastermind, who calls himself "Luffy" after a popular anime character. Philippine authorities deported two of them, Kiyoto Imamura and Toshiya Fujita, to Japan earlier this week. The other two - Yuki Watanabe and Tomonobu Kojima - arrived in Japan on Wednesday night.

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Around 50 robberies, thefts and other crimes in 14 prefectures since the summer of 2021 have been linked to the group that carried out the recent "Luffy" burglaries, investigative sources said. Police across Japan have arrested about 60 people in connection with these incidents. The suspects in the recent burglaries are believed to have received instructions via mobile phone from people in the Philippines using names such as "Luffy" and "Kim." One of the robberies occurred at a house in Komae, western Tokyo, last month, where an elderly woman was found beaten to death. Police have detained multiple suspects in that robbery-murder case as part of an investigation of another incident, the sources said. The four supposed leaders of the robberies have all been deported from the Philippines. They were arrested by Tokyo police in a separate fraud investigation.

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At least 50 robberies and thefts suspected to be connected to a group have occurred across over a dozen prefectures since 2021. This case, however, was the only robbery that resulted in a death, striking a nerve among the public in Japan where such violent crime is rare. The sentence was in line with the prosecutors' demand. While Nagata's defense team sought a fixed prison term, Nagata himself asked to be executed. During trial, he had admitted to the charges including the robbery resulting in death. According to the ruling, Nagata and Hiroyuki Nomura, 53, conspired with others to enter the woman's home by pretending to be parcel deliverymen. They kicked her and beat her with a crowbar, causing her to die, while stealing items such watches, the ruling said. Nagata was also involved in five other robberies, including in Tokyo's Nakano Ward and the city of Hiroshima, according to the ruling. He "ordered his accomplice to beat the woman with a crowbar" in what can be regarded as "torture," the presiding judge said, describing the action as "relentless and ruthless." Sugawara added that despite Nagata's apology, he should not be given a fixed prison term due to the gravity of the crime.

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The sentence handed down by the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court aligned with the demand of the prosecutors. The defense team had sought a fixed prison term but argued for the shortest possible duration. According to the ruling, Hiroyuki Nomura, 54, conspired with others to enter the woman's home in Tokyo's Komae in January 2023 by posing as a parcel deliveryman. She was then kicked and fatally beaten with a crossbar, and items such as watches were stolen from the home.

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Tokyo District Court on Monday handed down a life sentence to a senior member of a Japanese crime ring that was led by individuals called "Luffy" in the Philippines and behind a series of high-profile robbery and other crimes across Japan. Of the four arrested and indicted senior members of the crime ring, Toshiya Fujita, 41, was the second to receive a sentence. His sentence was in line with the demands of public prosecutors. According to the ruling, Fujita was involved in a total of seven robbery cases in Tokyo and three other prefectures between October 2022 and January 2023, including one in which a 90-year-old woman was killed in Komae, Tokyo.

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