TOKYO (TR) – As a part of an investigation into a member of a criminal syndicate suspected of repeatedly using counterfeit money, Tokyo Metropolitan Police have again arrested him and his girlfriend in an additional case, reports Fuji News Network (Mar. 13).
In August, Misuzu Taneichi, 24, and Keita Yoshiwara, a 22-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai, allegedly worked together to pass two counterfeit 10,000-yen notes at two stores in Chiba Prefecture last August.
In one case, Yoshiwara instructed Taneichi to use one fake note to purchase krill costing 500 yen from a tackle shop while he stood watch. She then pocketed the change.
The arrest is the fourth for Yoshiwara and the second for Taneichi. In February, police accused them of passing two counterfeit 10,000-yen notes to clerks at a pair of other stores in Chiba.
Police did not reveal whether the suspects admit to the allegations in the latest case. However, Yoshiwara declined to comment on the charges upon his third arrest in February. “I didn’t know the money was counterfeit,” Taneichi said after her first arrest that same month.
Yoshiwara is a member of a ring that used counterfeit bills in more than 50 locations in the Tokyo metropolitan area, including in Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, police said previously.
