TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police on Wednesday arrested an organized crime member in the bust of a business in Shinjuku Ward that sold illegal pornographic DVDs, reports AV Asahi (Sept. 17).
On Monday, officers arrested gang member Toshihiro Yoshikawa, 39, manager Yoshito Imai, 54, and four other employees of the operation, which included a shop and a warehouse, for the sale and possession of uncensored pornographic DVDs.
A search of the warehouse by investigators revealed approximately 54,000 discs.
By law, films available in Japan are required to have genitalia properly censored.
Yoshikawa has reportedly admitted to one part of the allegations, telling police that he was a sales assistant. “I was not in management,” the suspect is quoted by police.
The shop was located in the Kabukicho entertainment area. Customers made requests from a catalog for DVDs that were then brought from the nearby warehouse. The discs were priced at 400 yen each.
The operation collected 78 million yen in revenue over the past year, according to Nippon News Network (Sept. 17).