TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a member of a criminal syndicate over the alleged swindle of an elderly woman in Yamaguchi Prefecture, reports TBS News (Apr. 3).
On Wednesday, police accused Kazuma Kataoka, a 31-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai, of swindling the woman, a 74-year-old resident of Yamaguchi Prefecture, out of 2.5 million yen.
Prior to the crime, the woman received a distress call from a person posing as her son. Kataoka played a role in collecting the money from the woman, according to police.
At just past 10:00 a.m. on Friday, about 10 investigators raided the headquarters of the Sumiyoshi-kai in Minato Ward in search of evidence in the case.
Around that same time, officers also searched an office of the Kohei-ikka, a Sumiyoshi-kai affiliate, in Itabashi Ward.
The arrest is the second for Kataoka this year. In January, Chiba Prefectural Police accused him of robbing a woman and her son of nearly 2 million yen during a break-in at their residence in Ichihara City last year.
