FUKUOKA (TR) – Fukuoka Prefectural Police have arrested six members of a criminal syndicate over the shooting of a construction company employee in Kitakyushu City six years ago, reports TBS News (Sept. 8).
At just after 7:00 p.m. on February 9, 2011, the employee, an employee of Shimizu Corporation aged in his 50s at the time, was struck in the abdomen by a bullet fired from a handgun after it glanced off a desk at a site office for a construction project. The victim suffered light injuries in the incident.
On Friday, police arrested Futoshi Urita, a 54-year-old upper-level member of the Kudo-kai, and five other members on suspicion of attempted murder.
According to police, Shimizu had declined to pay money to the Kudo-kai, which regularly extorts companies engaged in construction work in Kitakyushu via the practice known as mikajimeryo, or the payment of “protection money.”
In November, 2011, a 72-year-old executive of construction firm in Kitakyushu was shot dead by a gunman riding double on a motorcycle. In January of this year, police arrested 12 members of the Kudo-kai in the case.
