Japan thanks Remulla for deportation of 4 tagged in robbery

MANILA — Japan thanked Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla for the deportation of four Japanese fugitives allegedly involved in a string of violent robberies and telephone fraud cases in their country.

In a letter to Remulla dated Thursday, Japanese Ambassador Koshikawa Kazuhiko expressed his “heartfelt gratitude for your utmost understanding and steadfast cooperation” in the deportation of the alleged criminals.

“The resolute leadership you have shown will not be forgotten by the Japanese government,” Kazuhiko said.

“I am certainly looking forward in further enhancing our close ties in order to holistically deepen, strengthen and enhance Philippine-Japan relations in all aspects,” he added.

The Philippines deported this week Toshiya Fujita, Kiyoto Imamura, Tomonobu Saito and Yuki Watanabe upon the request of the Japanese government. The four were detained at the Bureau of Immigration Warden Facility.

Watanabe is believed to be alias “Luffy” who is supposedly running a robbery ring from inside his detention cell in Taguig City.

What kept them from being sent back to their country were pending cases before different courts across the country, which the Department of Justice believes were “contrived.”

Watanabe and Saito were deported after they were cleared of charges of violence against women and their children they separately faced at a Pasay Regional Trial Court. The court granted Tuesday the prosecution’s motion to drop the charges.

Immigration reforms

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration has deactivated its Port Operations Division as part of reforms it is implementing to reorganize and streamline the operational structure of its airport services following this incident.

“This will remove the centralized authority over all airports, as well as empower and exact accountability on the BI airport terminal heads, who are now directly responsible over the operation and management of their respective terminals,” said BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco in a statement.

Tansingco said prior to this, the POD had many redundant and overlapping functions and poor accountability as heads reported to multiple superiors.

The BI is also conducting an investigation into the more than 30 personnel manning its warden facility, under whose watch the Japanese fugitives were supposedly able to run the criminal ring through mobile gadgets sneaked in their detention cells.

More than 20 gadgets were recovered from the four Japanese detainees. These have since been turned over to Japanese authorities for their investigation.

Criminals were reportedly given orders to carry out break-ins or fraud. Japanese national broadcaster NHK said more than 70 people have been apprehended.

The group was thought to be behind 2,300 cases of fraud worth 3.5 billion yen ($26.4 million), NHK said. —