Crime Tokyo Metro Police raids Chinese overseas police station

[thomas]

The Metropolitan Police Department's Public Security Bureau in Tokyo recently conducted a raid on what is considered one of China's overseas police stations. According to investigative sources, fraud charges have been filed against two Chinese women: a 44-year-old company owner from Tokyo's Sumida Ward and a 59-year-old company executive from Warabi, Saitama Prefecture. The basis for these raids lies in an alleged illegal receipt of COVID-19 subsidies for businesses. The two women were suspected of unlawfully obtaining JPY 1m in subsidies by falsely presenting themselves as proprietors of an osteopathy clinic in July 2020.

A building in Tokyo's Akihabara district raided by the Metropolitan Police Department's public security bureau in May last year (Kyodo)​

Concerning China's overseas police stations, the Spanish human rights organization Safeguard Defenders highlighted in 2022 the existence of at least 102 such stations spread across 53 countries. There are reportedly two bases in Japan. Last May, the public security bureau searched a building in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, which was subsequently categorized as one of the two Chinese overseas police stations. At that time, the two suspects held executive positions within the organization that owned the building and operated an office there. The search confirmed that the two suspects had been assisting with the renewal process for Chinese driver's licenses. Although no immediate infringement of Japanese sovereignty was identified, the bureau will continue to investigate the details of the situation.

Chinese 'overseas police station' in Tokyo raided over benefit fraud

According to papers submitted to prosecutors, the raids stemmed from an alleged illegal receipt of COVID-19 subsidies.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Japan to look into group's report of secret Chinese police stations

Japanese authorities are investigating a report from a human rights group that China has set up police offices in Japan, a top government spokesperson said on Thursday, following similar checks by European countries, the United States and Canada.

www.reuters.com

 

[nice gaijin]

There was some news about one getting shut down in New York, I think. They say it's ostensibly to help expatriates abroad, but that's the function of an embassy, and the clandestine nature makes it look more like spycraft and attempts to intimidate and control citizens than anything helpful. And if it WERE a service to citizens abroad, why wouldn't it be a known, official, well-advertised organization?

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/04/world/china-overseas-police-stations-intl-cmd/index.html

Full list of China's unofficial police stations around the world

Undeclared Chinese police proxy points target suspected criminals and Chinese dissidents, Safeguard Defenders said in a new report on Monday.

www.newsweek.com

 

[johnnyG]

As the Confucius centers got shut down, some kind of fall-back system was needed?