TOKYO (TR) – A court here on Monday sentenced the former leader of the so-called “Luffy” fraud ring to life imprisonment in connection with a series of robberies that started four years ago, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Feb. 15).
At the Tokyo District Court, Toshiya Fujita, 41, was convicted on a number of charges including robbery resulting in death.
Between October 2022 and January 2023, Fujita participated in seven robbery cases in Tokyo and three other prefectures. In one case, a 90-year-old woman was killed in Komae City, Tokyo
The Luffy group is named after the popular manga for boys. It specializes in tokushu sagi, which is a type of fraud carried out on the telephone by a caller impersonating an authority figure or a relative.
In handing down the ruling, presiding judge Sakon Togari described the series of robberies as “a pioneering new type of crime: organized, wide-area serial robberies orchestrated remotely with complete anonymity.”
Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment, while the defense sought a fixed-term sentence, arguing that the defendant “only assisted at the expense of other group leaders” and thus “merely constituted an accessory.”
However, this assertion was rejected. Togari noted that Fujita “played an important role by issuing detailed and accurate instructions to the perpetrators, encouraging and praising them, and leading them to carry out the crimes, even though he did not know them.”
The court then sentenced Fujita to life imprisonment, which was the request of the prosecution. Meanwhile, the defense had sought a fixed term.
“Without any sense of reality”
Fujita instructed perpetrators to carry out the crimes from the Philippines.
Togari added, “He gave instructions to carry out robberies without getting his hands dirty from overseas, where the risk of arrest was low, and continued to commit crimes without any sense of reality or resistance.”
Togari also stated, “His obsession with obtaining money and valuables led him to disregard human life and escalate his crimes, so severe criticism is appropriate.”
Fujita listened to the verdict in silence.
There are two other defendants, including Kiyoto Imamura. However, their trial dates have not been set.
