TOKYO (TR) – Law enforcement last week arrested a Tokyo Metropolitan Police organized crime detective for allegedly leaking investigative information to Natural, one of the largest commercial sex scouting groups in the country, reports the Yomiuri Shimbun (Nov. 14).
On November 12, police arrested Daisuke Jimbo, a 43-year-old detective in the department’s Organized Crime Control Division for violating the Local Public Servants Act.
Between April and May, the detective allegedly provided several images taken by an investigative camera installed at a location associated with Natural to the group via a smartphone app.
According to police, Jimbo was assigned to the division in December 2020. From around 2023 until April of this year, he was in charge of investigating cases suspected to involve Natural.
According to multiple sources close to the investigation, when the National Police Agency searched Jimbo’s home in August on suspicion of violating the same law, officers found approximately 9 million yen in cash. Police are investigating the source of the cash.
In late January, the whereabouts of several Natural executives who the agency had planned to arrest went unknown, leading to concerns among investigators that information had been leaked.
At a regular press conference on November 13, National Police Agency commissioner general Yoshinobu Kusunoki said, “This is absolutely unacceptable and severely damages the trust of the people. We will deal with this strictly and implement thorough measures to prevent it from happening again.”
Tokuryu
Natural conveys information to its members as if it were a tokuryu group, which is an anonymous, mobile crime operation whose members are organized via smartphones, reports Fuji News Network (Nov. 13).
In the aforementioned case in January, the network says that disappearance of the executives happened just before they began their investigation.
At the time, investigators were saying things like, “How could they get away at a time like this? Someone must be leaking information. There must be someone he’s close with.”
It is not known how Jimbo leaked the information to Natural members later this year. However, the network showed the entire app used by Natural members in a broadcast in September.
“We share information on how to avoid arrest, and how to respond appropriately if arrested. It’s like a notice from management,” a member of Natural told the network, which is called Chat Alpha.
Appearing to be a news app, it was developed independently by Natural. It is required to be installed on all members’ smartphones.
“Betrayal”
A Fuji investigation revealed that information about a house search in Chiba Prefecture may have been leaked through this app.
The app contained the following message: “We have received leaked information that raids will be conducted on four to five stores in Chiba on either July 13 or 14.”
Chiba Prefectural Police subsequently conducted actual searches and arrested several individuals involved.
Regarding the possibility that information about the police investigation was communicated in advance, a representative of the Chiba Prefectural Police commented, “We cannot comment as we are not aware of the posts or testimonies.”
Meanwhile, Jinbo’s arrest has also sent shock waves through the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, which underwent major organizational restructuring in October. This included the establishing of the Special Investigation Division to focus on analyzing and investigating the tokuryu cases.
A senior investigator told the network, “We are truly disappointed. This is an unforgivable betrayal of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and all of our investigators.”
