]TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Tuesday arrested a member of the bosozoku motorcycle gang Dragon for assaulting a customer in a bar he managed earlier this year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 23).
On May 17 at around 10:00 p.m., Nobuaki Takahashi, then the manager of a billiard bar in the Roppongi entertainment district, is alleged to have struck a customer, a 27-year-old male customer from Ghana in the head with a pool cue several times and stabbed him in the back with a knife.
Just prior to the incident, the victim had spilled a glass of beer on a table. The suspect then reportedly threatened to kill him.
Takahashi, who has been charged with attempted murder, has refused to comment on the allegations.
On May 26, Takahashi departed Japan for Thailand. The suspect was apprehended by police on December 10 in Thailand for overstaying his visa while attempting to travel to Cambodia. He arrived at Haneda Airport on Tuesday evening.
Last year, the National Police Agency began classifying bosozoku gangs as “pseudo-yakuza” groups to better reflect the true state of their activities.
Dragon is comprised of second- and third-generation returnees from China who came to Japan after the end of World War II.
