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March 28, 2025
 

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ORGANIZED CRIME

Officials of the National Public Safety Commission inspect the Kabukicho area of Shinjuku, Tokyo, in June 2024, as crimes committed by unscrupulous host clubs have surfaced.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 24, 2025
Crimes by 'tokuryu' anonymous groups pose serious issue in Japan
Police have made capturing the ringleaders a top priority but are struggling in their investigations, largely due to the criminals' use of highly encrypted communication apps.
The Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. Tokyo police have arrested a number of suspects this month in connection with home improvement scams.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 17, 2025
Police issue warning over home improvement scams
Such scams use similar tactics to those employed by fraudsters who impersonate relatives or public agency officials over the phone to defraud victims of their money.
The illuminated advertising board of a host club in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district. The bill approved by the government on Friday aims to ban hosts from emotionally manipulating customers into making excessive purchases — a common tactic in the industry.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2025
Japan looks to crack down on host club exploitation with tighter regulations
Police received 2,776 consultations nationwide related to host clubs last year, with many involving women coerced into sex work to cover unpaid bills.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, are stuck in limbo at a compound in Myawaddy, Myanmar, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Feb 28, 2025
Southeast Asia's latest scam center crackdown
Here's a look at why the crackdown is happening now and the broader implications for relations between China, Thailand and Myanmar.
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were trafficked into working in Myanmar and were sent to Thailand, queue for food at a shelter as they wait for their embassies to pick them up, in Tak province, Thailand, on Feb. 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2025
'Contemplated suicide': Ethiopians recount horror of Southeast Asia scam centers
The complexes have flourished across the region, often staffed by foreigners who are made to swindle people in what analysts say is a multibillion-dollar industry.
The border crossing near the Thai town of Aranyaprathet and the Cambodian town of Poipet
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 23, 2025
Thai and Cambodian police free 215 foreigners in scam center raid
Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centers and illegal online operations across Southeast Asia.
Tokyo police have arrested the president of a computer retailer in the capital for allegedly having Chinese students studying in Japan buy MacBooks using a student discount at Apple Stores for the purpose of reselling them overseas.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025
Police arrest computer retailer head over MacBook student discount scheme
Zhao Zhicheng, 35, allegedly had students from China studying in Japan buy the Apple computers at a discount for the purpose of reselling abroad.
The Thai Royal Police held a meeting on Monday in Bangkok with representatives from 18 countries, including Japan, as well as international organizations like the United Nations regarding the transnational scam operation.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 18, 2025
Japanese nationals thought to be held captive at Myanmar-Thailand border
Foreign nationals from several countries have been held at the border and forced to participate in a variety of scams.
Migrants picked up at sea attempting to cross the English Channel from France disembark from Border Force vessel 'Typhoon' after it arrived at the Marina in Dover, southeast England, on Feb. 9.
WORLD
Feb 14, 2025
Britain wants to smash the gangs — but what gangs?
Experts say a bill against smuggling gangs and anti-smuggling laws across Europe will not stem migration and often target the wrong people.
Drug rehab patients walk in formation to have lunch at the Mega Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, north of Manila, in 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 10, 2025
Abuse and coercion rife in Philippines drugs rehab, rights groups say
Rights groups say some facilities fail standards and have called for more health and social support.
Bollywood faced a challenging year in 2024, with box-office collections dropping significantly, leading to concerns about a return to lawlessness in Mumbai.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2025
Bollywood’s dark past is threatening to return
When everything starts bombing for Bollywood, things take a sinister turn in Mumbai.
Chinese actor Wang Xing shakes hands with a Thai police officer after being assisted in his return to the country, after being kidnapped into one of the telecom fraud centers, at a police station in Thailand-Myanmar border's Mae Sot district, Tak province, Thailand, on Jan. 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 22, 2025
China families appeal to free relatives held by scam gangs in Myanmar
Chinese law does not consider men as potential victims of human trafficking.
Takeshi Ebisawa poses with a rocket launcher during a meeting with an informant and two undercover Danish police officers at a warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark on Feb. 3, 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 9, 2025
Yakuza leader pleads guilty in U.S. court to conspiring to sell nuclear material
The leader was charged in February 2024 with conspiring to sell weapons-grade nuclear material and lethal narcotics from Myanmar and purchasing military weaponry.
Opium is harvested from poppies in Bang Laem Village, Shan State, Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 31, 2024
Drugs, scams and sin: Myanmar’s war has made it the global crime capital
Growing opium poppies is illegal in Myanmar, but small-scale farmers see it is a relatively low-risk cash crop.
The Dubai skyline on Dec. 15, 2023. For years, Dubai has been an ideal rear base for trafficking and money laundering, with little risk of being extradited for lack of satisfactory judicial cooperation, according to European investigators and magistrates.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 19, 2024
End of the Dubai dream for Europe's drug lords?
The Gulf emirate has been a haven for some of Europe's biggest drug traffickers, but the tide may be turning.
Inter Milan "ultras" merchandise is displayed outside San Siro Stadium in Milan before a Champions League match on Nov. 26.
SOCCER
Dec 19, 2024
Italy combats spread of mafia among soccer fan groups across country
Ultra groups at Inter and AC Milan, two of the biggest names in Italian soccer, have allegedly been infiltrated by the mafia.
Latin America has seen a rise of sophisticated, transnational organized crime driving violence, human trafficking and corruption.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2024
Cartels are conglomerating. Governments must too.
Latin America has seen a rise of sophisticated, transnational organized crime driving violence, human trafficking and corruption.
Rizwan Gondal, the head police officer in Rahim Yar Khan distric, says that his detectives have a dossier proving the "heinous criminal activities" of Pakistani gangster Shahid Lund Baloch, who broadcasts on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram defiant messages delivered gun-in-hand, romanticizing his rural lifestyle and cultivating a reputation as a champion of the people.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 6, 2024
TikTok bandits terrorize and transfix Pakistan riverlands
In riverine terrain in central Punjab that has long offered them refuge, bandits use the internet to enthrall citizens even as they prey on them.
Police officers investigate near a house in Tokyo where a resident was assaulted by a group of burglars on Saturday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Nov 3, 2024
Spate of burglaries in Kanto highlight importance of home security
Amid a surge in burglaries linked to "dark" part-time jobs across the Tokyo area, experts are advising people to take measures that would delay intruders.
Investigators of a joint task force set up in the wake of a series of robberies in the Kanto region attend a meeting at the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo on Oct. 18.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 1, 2024
College student who took job on dark web arrested for attempted robbery
The suspect said he thought he was taking on a delivery job, but instead he was forced to break into a house in western Tokyo.
Yellow sand blankets cities across Japan
The Meteorological Agency forecast the yellow sand to move away from eastern Honshu by 6 p.m. on Wednesday. But it will continue to cover parts of western Honshu and Shikoku until Thursday morning, it said.
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
JR's 'futuristic' Takanawa Gateway complex set to open in Tokyo
The Gateway Park at Takanawa Gateway City on Tuesday
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
Trump says he’ll hit auto imports with 25% tariff in trade fight
Stocks slid Wednesday following an initial report that Trump planned to make an auto tariff announcement.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
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