TOKYO (TR) – Law enforcement divisions suspect that feuding organized crime groups are behind a series of incidents, including one shooting, that took place across the Kanto area on Saturday, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Feb. 28).
At approximately 5:30 a.m., a routine police patrol discovered a smashed shutter door at an office of a third-tier organization of the Yamaguchi-gumi in the Tsumadahigashi area of Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
A two-ton truck that had been reported stolen was later found abandoned about 400 meters from the office. A check of security camera footage taken in the vicinity of the office showed the truck ramming the door about two hours prior to the discovery of the damage.
At approximately 9:30 p.m., Saitama police received a tip about a shooting incident at the home of a 67-year-old upper-level member of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi in Yashio City. Two bullet holes were found in a second-floor wall.
Just before midnight, a Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi member was ambushed and beaten by several men on the grounds of an apartment complex in the Hanahata area of Tokyo’s Adachi Ward. His injuries will require two months to heal.
There were no injuries in either incident in Saitama and Kanagawa.
The Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi formed last summer as a rival gang to the Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi. Police believe that the incidents are a part of an ongoing feud that has developed between the two gangs.
