HYOGO (TR) – Hyogo Prefectural Police on Thursday arrested a boss within a newly formed organized crime group as a part of a loan fraud case, reports the Yomiuri Television (Oct. 8).
Koji Ikeda, the 48-year-old boss of the Manabe-gumi, an affiliate gang of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, is alleged to have received loans totaling 470 million yen from three financial institutions between September of 2013 and April of last year.
Police also arrested a 50-year-old president of a residential services company based in Hiroshima for assisting in the application of the loans. The suspects falsely claimed that the funds were to be used for a housing project for the elderly in Osaka.
The suspects have refused to comment on the charges.
The case represents the first arrest of a boss from the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi since it formed last month as a rival to the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Police believe that a portion of the money not used to cover construction costs was used to fund the gang.
