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Yakuza not prosecuted over office located near school

TOKYO (TR) – Prosecutors have announced the non-prosecution of  an upper-level member of a yakuza criminal syndicate for establishing an office in Nakano Ward that is too close to a school than what is allowed by law, reports Fuji News Network (Dec. 25).

In November of last year, Kenjiro Tamaru, a 40-year-old executive of a syndicate affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai, and three other suspects allegedly established an office for the gang inside an apartment near a middle school in the Yayoicho area.

On Tuesday, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the non-prosecution of Tamaru, who was arrested this past November. No reason for the non-prosecution was given.

As mandated by a Tokyo Metropolitan Government ordinance, it is prohibited for a boryokudan (criminal syndicate) to have an office with 200 meters of a nursery or elementary school.

With dumb bells found inside the office, the suspects claimed to police that the space was in fact a sports gym. However, police deemed that the operation was in fact for the use of the gang.

Kenjiro Tamaru
Kenjiro Tamaru of the Sumiyoshi-kai (Twitter)

Kanto Rengo

Tamaru, who also uses the surname Chuetsu, is a former member of the Kanto Rengo bosozoku motorcycle gang. Police believe he formed the Chuetsu-gumi, an affiliate gang of the Sumiyoshi-kai, after leaving Kanto Rengo.

The arrest was not the first for Tamaru. Earlier this year, police arrested him for establishing another office too close to a school in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward.