5 gang members arrested for attacking and trying to stab street scouts
Tokyo police arrested five members of a crime syndicate on suspicion of sexually assaulting a male street scout in Shinjuku Ward’s Kabukicho area.
Sankei Shimbun announced that Ryoji Hirai, 46, a senior member of Sumiyoshi-kai affiliate Kohei-ikka, and four other yakuza members, including Ryosuke Hayashi, 27, were arrested in a June incident. Police said the five suspects pulled a 23-year-old man who worked as an adult street scout, out of his car on the night of June 5, as he parked it. The gang tried to stab him in the eye with an ice pick, in addition to punching and kicking the victim, if they saw him in Shinjuku Ward again.
Hirai and his fellow Kohei-ikka participants were involved in a clash with a street scout organization in Kabukicho the day before the attack. Members of both the crime syndicate and the scout recruitment party were captured by police.
Nevertheless, police said yakuza members have started “scout hunting” and threatening the men who are hired by the scouting company. A total of 15 people have been arrested by police to date in connection with conflict between the two parties.
Source: Japan Today
