TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted an extensive operation based in Shinjuku Ward that sold illegal pornographic DVDs and funded organized crime, reports TBS News (Nov. 14).
On Saturday, police raided two shops, located in the red-light district of Kabukicho, and arrested manager Yoshihiko Katsuragi, 40, a 65-year-old male Korean national and 12 other persons for the illegal possession and sale of DVDs in which genitalia is not properly censored as mandated by law.
Police also searched three warehouses and confiscated a total of 320,000 illegal discs, the largest seizure in the history of the department.
In order to evade a bust, the shops were separate from the warehouses. Purchases made by customers were then delivered to the shops.
Over the past two years, the operation generated approximately 375 million yen in sales.
The Korean national is a former gang member. Police suspect that a portion of the sales from the operation funded a criminal organization.
