TOKYO — Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 30-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai yakuza syndicate for allegedly orchestrating the smuggling of roughly 5 kilograms of methamphetamine from the United States.
Ryo Toita, a member of a gaggle affiliated with the Sumiyoshi-kai’s Kohei-ikka faction, is accused of importing the kakuseizai (methamphetamine) with an estimated avenue worth of 268 million yen.
In 2024, Toita allegedly directed a smuggling ring to hide the medicine inside cylindrical filters and ship them by way of air cargo from the U.S. to Narita International Airport. The bundle was then mailed to a residential handle in Nerima Ward.
Police zeroed in on Toita because the ringleader after the person tasked with receiving the bundle was beforehand arrested. Following a rigorous two-year monitoring investigation, authorities apprehended Toita within the capital on April 13.
Upon his arrest, the suspect outright refused to cooperate with investigators. “I will remain silent,” Toita reportedly said. “I will also remain silent on the reason why I am remaining silent.”
Police imagine that the Kohei-ikka is working as a serious home provide supply for unlawful medicine, conducting systematic smuggling operations whereas sustaining deep ties with tokuryu rings, that are nameless and fluid crime teams at present working throughout Japan.
A wider investigation into the syndicate’s shadowy community is ongoing.