2 of 4 Japanese Fraud Suspects Arrested after Leaving Philippines

Tokyo, Feb. 7 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo police on Tuesday arrested two of the four Japanese fraud suspects believed to be also linked to a series of robberies in Japan after they were extradited from the Philippines.

The two--Kiyoto Imamura, 38, and Toshiya Fujita, 38--were arrested aboard a plane bound for Japan on suspicion of theft over a special fraud case in Tokyo in 2019.

The remaining two suspects--Yuki Watanabe, 38, and Tomonobu Kojima, 45, will be transferred to Japan from the Philippines in a flight late Wednesday night, Philippine Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said.

Investigators from the Metropolitan Police Department suspects that the four are senior members of a special fraud group that is believed to have caused fraud losses totaling over 6 billion yen and may have also been involved in the spate of robbery cases.

Watanabe is apparently a leader figure of the special fraud group based in the Philippines, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]