Gang Member Held over 2013 Murder of "Gyoza" Chain Head

Kyoto, Oct. 28 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police arrested a gang member Friday over the high-profile murder of the then president of "gyoza" dumpling restaurant chain Ohsho Food Service Corp. <9936> in December 2013, investigative source said.

The police department of Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, arrested Yukio Tanaka, 56, a senior member of a group affiliated with major crime syndicate Kudo-kai, headquartered in the city of Kitakyushu in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Fukuoka, on suspicion of murdering Takayuki Ohigashi, the then 72-year-old president of the firm operating the "Gyoza no Ohsho" restaurant chain, and violating the firearms and swords control law, the sources said.

Police did not disclose whether Tanaka has admitted the charges. No link has been confirmed between Ohigashi and Tanaka, according to the police. Ohsho Food Service is listed on the Prime section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Tanaka has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in another case on charges including violation of the firearms and swords control law. He is currently serving his sentence in Fukuoka Prison in the town of Umi in Fukuoka Prefecture. The Kyoto prefectural police will transfer Tanaka to the Yamashina police office in the prefecture, where the investigation headquarters for the 2013 murder case has been set up, within Friday for further probe.

In the crime that happened around 5:45 a.m. on Dec. 19, 2013, Ohigashi was shot three times in the stomach and once in the chest with a 25-caliber automatic pistol upon getting out of a car in front of Ohsho Food Service's head office in Yamashina Ward in the city of Kyoto, the Kyoto Prefecture capital. He died of blood loss.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]