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Tokyo Police Elevate Task Force to Target Sumiyoshi-Kai Affiliate Kohei Family

The move signals an intelligence-led push to turn cross-department leads into prosecutable cases.

Overview

  • Effective April 1, the task force’s leader shifts from the Criminal Affairs chief to a deputy commissioner to speed enforcement.
  • At a Tokyo headquarters event, commanders told roughly 200 investigators to build cases that drive the Kohei group toward collapse.
  • Police say the group backs so-called Tokuryu—anonymous, mobile crews that hide chains of command—and takes part in special fraud, illegal scouting of women for sex businesses, and drug sales, noting Sumiyoshi-kai has about 3,200 members with Kohei accounting for roughly a quarter.
  • The strategy pools information across divisions and aims to convert intelligence into arrests and prosecutions from many angles.
  • Separately, police arrested a Kohei-affiliated boss and five others on suspicion of confining and injuring a male member in February and stealing items worth about ¥900,000.