Crime
Thai Immigration Deports Japanese Yakuza Financier
Mr Shuhei Yoshizawa was escorted by five Japanese police at Suvarnabhumi Airport
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BANGKOK - Thailand’s Immigration police last night deported a key financier of the Yamagushi Yakuza gang to Japan to face trials .
Yakuza gang financier Mr Shuhei Yoshizawa was escorted by five Japanese police on board a Japan Airlines flight JL728 which left Suvarnabhumi for Osaka at 11 pm last night.
They were accompanied by Thai Immigration Bureau commissioner Pol Lt-Gen Natthathorn Prohsunthorn to the plane.
Mr Yoshizawa was wanted by Kobe Court and also on the Interpol’s Red Notice list for extortion, frauds, and computer crime charges.
He was arrested in Bangkok by Thai and Japanese police near his rented condominium in Din Daeng on May 1.
Pol Lt-Gen Natthathorn said immigration police have recorded his name on the persona non grata black list in which he will be indefinitely banned to return to Thailand.
According the commissioner, Mr Yoshisawa was one of the key financiers for the Yamagushi Yakuza gang.
As chairman of Miyami company, an investment consulting firm which has several branch offices in Japan, Yoshisawa has amassed about 180 million baht from about 500 victims through extortion, intimidation and fraud, all of whom have wired money into his bank accounts, he added.
In March last year, Japanese police raided Yoshisawa’s head office in Osaka and arrested 25 staff members but the man dodged the police dragnet and reportedly escaped to Thailand on March 30.
He was a frequent visitor to Thailand having made 45 visits, had a Thai wife and was given a one-year visa.
With the request from Japanese police, Thai immigration police finally tracked down the Japanese who has a condominium room in Soi Prachasongkroh, Din Daeng area. He was also known to be a frequent patron at RCA entertainment complex.
Early Sunday morning, police tailed Yoshisawa’s car from Rama IX road to Soi Prachasongkroh, but the Japanese became suspicious that he was being followed and tried to run away after stopping his car at the soi. The undercover police then gave chase and finally nabbed him.
