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Hyogo cops raid Yamaguchi-gumi HQ over fraud

Approximately 50 investigators raided the HQ of the Yamaguchi-gumi on Tuesday
Approximately 50 investigators raided the HQ of the Yamaguchi-gumi on Tuesday

HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police raided the headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi on suspicion of fraud perpetrated by a former member, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Oct. 13).

At approximately 10:00 a.m., approximately 50 investigators searched the compound, located in Kobe’s Nada Ward, for evidence connected to 470 million yen in loans fraudulently received from three financial institutions between September of 2013 and April of last year.

Police have arrested Koji Ikeda, the 48-year-old boss of the Manabe-gumi, an affiliate gang of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, and two other suspects for carrying out the fraud, which included falsely claiming that the funds were to be used for a housing project for the elderly in Osaka.

At the time of the alleged crimes, Ikeda was under the Yamaguchi-gumi, which is Japan’s largest organized crime group. The Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi formed last month as a rival to the Yamaguchi-gumi.

This is the third raid of the Yamaguchi-gumi’s headquarters since its dissolution.

Police believe that a portion of the money not used to cover construction costs was used to fund the gang.