Suspected Yakuza member arrested in PHL

A suspected former member of the Japanese Yakuza crime syndicate was arrested in the Philippines recently. Eiichi Sugimoto, 49, was arrested last November 19 by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) Interpol division. He is now detained at the immigration jail in Bicutan, Taguig City pending deportation proceedings. BI officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma said the Japanese Embassy in Manila sought the bureau’s help upon learning that Sugimoto entered the country January this year. A summary court in Tokyo ordered the arrest of Sugimoto for allegedly defrauding two people in March 2009, Ledesma said. Lawyer Faizal Hussin, BI intelligence chief, said Sugimoto defrauded two compatriots of more than 25 million yen through a fraudulent investment scheme, telling the victims that he would invest the money in a restaurant and duty-free shop business near the Mactan airport in Cebu. “After getting the money, he flew to the Philippines and never returned to Japan," Hussin said. A report from the Japanese Embassy revealed that Sugimoto is a former member of the Sumiyoshi-kai Kohei family of the Yakuza group. - KBK, GMANews.TV