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Kyushu Seido-kai yakuza offices searched over grenade attack

Kyushu Seido-kai yakuza offices searched over grenade attack
Officers entering the Kyushu Seido-kai headquarters
TOKYO (TR) – Two days after a hand grenade exploded inside the compound of the headquarters of the Dojin-kai organized crime group in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, police raided the headquarters of a rival gang, reports Fuji News Network (Dec. 25).

On December 22, the headquarters of the Kyushu Seido-kai criminal syndicate, located in Omuta City, and two other locations were searched over suspected involvement in the attack.

The blast sent chunks of metal into a wall of the compound and around the immediate area. Four cars in the parking garage and a sliding shutter sustained exterior damage. Two gang members were inside the two-floor reinforced concrete structure, which is owned by the Dojin-kai’s 39-year-old chairman, but there were no reported injuries.

Investigators suspect the incident is the result of an ongoing dispute between the yakuza gangs.

In August, the Kyushu Seido-kai was believed to be involved in a similar grenade attack on the Dojin-kai compound. The next month, a building in Tsubukuimamachi owned by the former wife of an upper member of the Kyushu Seido-kai was hit by a Molotov cocktail.

The Kyushu Seido-kai began in 2006 as an offshoot of the Dojin-kai following the resignation of longtime Dojin-kai boss Seijiro Matsuo. In Fukuoka, Saga, and Kumamoto prefectures, the gangs have a history of engaging in violent incidents.

In November 2007, Fumio Imada, a Dojin-kai member, was arrested for the shooting death of a male patient in a hospital room in Saga Prefecture. The previous occupant of the room was a member of the Kyushu Seido-kai.

The feud has been intensifying in the last year. The Dojin-kai is believed to have been behind multiple murders of Kyushu Seido-kai gangsters: An explosion killed one boss and his brother inside a car in Omuta in April 2011, and, that same month, a member was stabbed to death in Ogi, Saga Prefecture.

On December 27, the public safety commissions of four prefectures in Kyushu will re-categorize both organized crime groups as “combative” to assist in restricting their activities. Law enforcement will be able to arrest gang members without the issuing of a cease and desist order if members make illegal demands towards ordinary citizens.