Police arrested a gangster and an accomplice Saturday for allegedly lending money at exorbitant interest rates.
Police suspect that several crime syndicates affiliated with a major Japanese gangster organization are operating a network of underground loan shark services.
The suspects are Kenichi Fukuda, 23, who runs Arms, a money lending company in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, and Koji Suzuki, 24, an Arms employee. Fukuda is affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi, one of Japan's largest gangster organizations. Police said the organization is effectively behind illegal loans operations.