Japanese Yakuza Headman Arrested in Thailand

In Bangkok on February 10,  2010 Lieutenant General Wut Liptapallop, Thai Immigration Police Commissioner, held a press conference to announce the successful apprehension of Mr. Anai Kenichi, age 41, a Japanese national, the ranking member of the Katowanggokai Japanese mafia, at a hotel in Silom Soi 7, Bangkok.  Mr. Anai is  a two-fingered Japanese national suspected of being a Yakuza, or Japanese gang member. 

The Yakuza, Japan's largest organized crime syndicate, comprises at least three main factions, known as Yamaguchi, Sumiyoshi and Inagawa.  Anai was a member of the Sumiyoshi clan.

" Anai Kenichi allegedly killed a member of the Inagawa faction in Japan last July," the commissioner said.

He is missing the upper halves of three fingers on his left hand. It is a Yakuza custom to chop off a finger as punishment for transgressions.

The commissioner noted that Thailand will open a National Criminal Center to better handle police requests from abroad to track down foreign criminals in the country. A major office will be opened in Pattaya.

Mr. Anai allegedly fled to Thailand from Japan following the issuance of arrest warrants accusing him of murder and illegal gun possession.

Following cooperation between Japanese and Thai authorities, Mr. Anai was successfully apprehended.

Lieutenant General Wut Liptapallop stated that Lieutenant General Manoon Meakmok of Thailand Immigration Bureau was informed by the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok to capture Mr. Anai, a fugitive from justice, who was suspected of being in Thailand.

Mr. Anai is allegedly the head of Japan’s second largest criminal organization which has more than 6,100 members.  Mr. Anai is wanted by Japanese authorities for the July, 2009 murder of Mr. Watanabe Nobuhiro, a rival member of the Inagawa gang and also wanted on charges of unauthorized firearm possession.

After the murder, Mr. Anai stole the identification of another man and had a false passport made, thereby changing his name to Mr. Senta Zato in an attempt to avoid arrest and allowing him to leave Japan undetected.

He quickly flew from Tokyo’s Narita Airport on All Nippon airways flight NH 953, to Bangkok on October 9, 2009. The Thailand Immigration Investigators discovered Mr. Anai was hiding in the Silom area of Bangkok. On February 7, 2010, they caught him in a highly populated area at the Diamond Place Hotel on Silom, Soi 7.

During police interrogation, Mr. Anai remained silent.

Contact with the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok was made in order to get Mr. Anai extradited back to Japan for his murder and illegal firearm possession trial.

Immigration is checking during the time Mr. Anai stayed in Thailand if he was connected to the Yakuza in Thailand, which is known to operate in the Silom area. Additional checks of the people he communicated with and what he was doing in Bangkok are underway at this time.