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Inagawa-kai gangsters arrested for prostituting runaway girl in Yokohama

The Toyoko Line in Yokohama
The Toyoko Line in Yokohama
TOKYO (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police on Tuesday arrested three suspects, including two members of a the Inagawa-kai organized crime group, for the alleged prostitution of a 15-year-old runaway girl in Yokohama, reports the Sankei Shimbun (June 4).

Officers took gangster Mitsuharu Otsuka, 40, fellow gang member Shigemasa Sugawara, 23, and Takashi Kudo, who is currently under prosecution for violating stimulants control laws, into custody for prostituting the girl, a middle school from Seya Ward, to approximately 15 men in late September of last year.

In one case, the girl engaged in sex acts with a 46-year-old male office worker inside a parked car in Tsurumi Ward on September 30.

All three suspects have reportedly denied the allegations.

The trio, which has been charged with violating child welfare laws regarding indecent acts, and another man had initially offered the runaway employment after meeting her in Yokohama in the early morning hours of September 24.

The student lived in the same apartment as Kudo. “If you run away, there will be trouble for your family,” Otsuka allegedly threatened.

Sugawara recruited customers for the runway by posting messages on deai-kei “encounter” matchmaking sites. The advertised rate for each session was between 10,000 and 20,000 yen.

The matter came to the surface after Kudo appeared at the Tsurumi Police Station with the girl and revealed that she was a runaway. Investigators are now attempting to link the group to more crimes.