OSAKA (TR) – A 28-year-old fugitive wanted for his alleged role in a highly organized burglary ring has surrendered to police in Izumi City, just hours after investigators publicly released his photo, reports Yomiuri TV (June 4).
“I’m Tomoki Fujiwara, the guy on the wanted list. I’ve come to turn myself in,” the suspect reportedly told officers after strolling into a police box in the city at around 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
Fujiwara, a Sakai City resident whose occupation is unknown, is accused of a string of break-ins targeting stores and company offices across southern Osaka Prefecture in March. By using tools to smash through glass doors, the perpetrators made off with 60 smartphones and approximately 50,000 yen in cash.
The Osaka Prefectural Police had just placed him on a national wanted list on the afternoon of his surrender. Authorities have withheld commenting on whether Fujiwara has admitted to the allegations.
Investigators believe the burglaries are the work of a tokuryu ring, whose members anonymously give and receive orders via smartphone apps.
The ring was allegedly orchestrated by Shoichi Kamikawa, a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest yakuza syndicate. Kamikawa has already been arrested for directing the operation from the top.
Underneath the yakuza’s direction, four youths recruited as disposable pawns through online ads for a “high-paying part-time job” (often referred to as yami-baito, or “dark job”) were previously taken into custody for physically executing the smash-and-grab burglaries.
Police are now pressing Fujiwara to uncover the inner workings of the syndicate and are investigating whether the group is tied to roughly 60 similar commercial burglaries that have plagued Osaka Prefecture since February.
