TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have re-arrested a member of a yakuza syndicate for allegedly trafficking a 19-year-old woman to Southeast Asia to work in an overseas fraud ring, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Aug. 17).
Teruto Yamao, a 26-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping for the purpose of moving a person across national borders. Police announced the arrest on the 17th but have not disclosed whether Yamao admits to the allegations.
According to police, the incident began in October when the victim was introduced to Yamao by a man she met in the so-called “Toyoko” area of Shinjuku Ward’s Kabukicho district — a notorious gathering spot for runaways and vulnerable youths. Pitched as someone who could provide overseas work, Yamao allegedly lured the teen by telling her, “You can make money overseas. Let’s go tomorrow.”
The very next day, the woman used airline tickets provided to her to fly to Malaysia before being moved to Cambodia.
Once overseas, the woman was trapped in a criminal syndicate. Over the course of her captivity, she was shuttled between four different fraud bases across Cambodia and Malaysia, where she was forced to work as a kakeko (caller) in tele-fraud scams targeting victims in Japan.
During her ordeal, the woman told police she saw several other girls at the fraud bases whom she recognized from the Toyoko area.
After nine months in captivity, the woman finally managed to escape from a Malaysian base in July and sought refuge at the Japanese Embassy.
Following her detailed accounts of the conditions inside the facilities, police are now thoroughly investigating the systemic trafficking of vulnerable Toyoko youths to overseas crime rings, as well as the total financial damages caused by the fraud network.
The arrest is the fifth for Yamao. In July, he was accused of kidnapping for the purpose of taking a person out of the country.
