Alleged Robbery Leader under Warrant over Past Fraud

Tokyo, Jan. 27 (Jiji Press)--A man who allegedly gave instructions for robberies across Japan from the Philippines is believed to be under a Japanese arrest warrant over a past fraud case, sources said Friday.

The Japanese man, who is detained in a Philippine immigration facility but has managed to give instructions via encrypted messaging app Telegram, is believed to be among the four men for whom Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department has obtained arrest warrants over the fraud, the investigative and other sources said.

Japanese authorities have asked the Philippine government to extradite the four men, all detained in the Southeast Asian country.

If the four are sent back to Japan, police will investigate whether they were involved in the robberies while stepping up their probes into the fraud.

The four include Yuki Watanabe and Kiyoto Imamura. One or more of the four are believed to have called themselves "Luffy" and given instructions for the string of robberies from last year.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]