TOKYO (TR) – A nationwide investigation involving involving officers from five prefectures culminated on Thursday with the arrest of a former member of an organized crime group for the sale of counterfeit revenue stamps forged in China, reports the Sankei Shimbun (July 19).
In Higashikoendai, Fukuoka Prefecture, officers apprehended Kenichiro Nakao, 40, a former member of the Dojin-kai criminal organization for fraud and violating revenue stamp laws after allegedly selling seven million yen in forged stamps.
Since February of 2011, officers from 16 prefectures and administrative districts have made 25 arrests for the same violations. Nakao is considered the ringleader of the group which is believed to have brought 20,000 copies of 10,000-yen stamps into Japan after multiple visits to China.
The former gangster denies the allegations. “I know that forged stamps are sold widely,” he is quoted by police. “However, I did not participate in this incident.”
In May of last year, Nakao allegedly defrauded a 38-year-old Osaka company president out of seven million yen by selling him 10 million yen in fake stamps, justifying the transaction by saying that he received the stamps in a previous transaction and wanted to turn them into cash, according to news wire Jiji Press.