Living it up in a Manila jail, ‘Luffy’ and gang allegedly targeted victims in Japan

Japanese nationals Yuki Watanabe (left) and Tomonobu Kojima are suspects in a string of robberies and telephone fraud cases across Japan.- AFP

TOKYO (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): In three years, unsuspecting victims in Japan lost more than six billion yen (US$45 million) through phone scams. Then a spate of at least 50 violent robberies hit 14 prefectures across the country.

What is even more shocking was that these cases were “directed” all the way from the Philippines, with the tentacles of the alleged mastermind having stretched far and wide from his base in Manila – even from behind bars after his arrest in 2021.