TOKYO (TR) – Fukuoka Prefectural Police on Thursday arrested two members of the Kudo-kai organized crime group for involvement in the shooting of a construction company president in Kitakyushu City in January, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Dec. 6).
Officers took Shinya Fukuda, 38, and Yoshiaki Fujino, 35, into custody on attempted murder charges and for violating the Swords and Firearms Control Law.
At about 5:30 a.m. on January 17, Takashi Kurose, 52, president of contractor Kurose Construction, located in Nakama City, Fukuoka Prefecture was struck in the abdomen and arm by at least three rounds from a pistol-wielding assailant aged around 40 and wearing black clothing and a white face mask.
The following day, officers from the anti-organized crime unit searched the Kudo-kai headquarters, located in Kitakyushu and a number of other locations across the prefecture, including the residence of an upper Kudo-kai boss, Satoru Nomura.
Both suspects have reportedly denied the allegations.
As a subcontractor to larger firms, Kurose Construction has participated in various gang-exclusion activities in the past. In 2011, the previous president attended a citizens rally to ban organized crime from Kita Kyushu.
In 2005, bullets were fired into the residence of the previous president. Two days later, the Kudo-kai headquarters and a number of other gang-related locations were searched on suspicion of attempted murder.
Investigators also suspect that members of the Kudo-kai have participated in various other incidents this year.
On April 19, a gunman on a motorbike shot the left hip and thigh of 61-year-old Yasuo Hiroishi, a former detective with the Fukuoka police, as he walked to work.
In August and September, employees from various bars and restaurants in Kita Kyushu that had posted the anti-gang emblem outside their establishments were victims of slashing incidents and other assaults.
