Missing Japanese mafia boss arrested after tattoos go viral

Shirai was arrested during a shopping trip on Wednesday, in the central market town of Lopburi, north of Bangkok.

“The suspect admitted he was the leader of the yakuza sub-gang Kodokai,” said Thai police spokesman, General Wirachai Songmetta, referring to an affiliate of Japan’s largest yakuza gang, Yamaguchi-gumi.

“The suspect has not confessed to murder but has admitted that the victim used to bully him,” he added.

The mafia-like Yakuza gangs first operated in the 17th century, stemming from street merchants and gamblers. They are a transnational group of crime synidcates believed to have 60,000 members across 21 different factions.

During the chaos of post-war Japan, their underworld empire grew to become worth billions of dollars.

The gangs themselves are not illegal and even have dedicated offices and business cards.

However, much of their earnings come from illicit activities including gambling, prostitution, loan sharking, protection rackets, drug trafficking, cyber hacking and white collar crime.

Each group has its own headquarters, sometimes in full view of the police. Traditionally they have been tolerated as a necessary evil to keep order on the streets, although the authorities are now trying to reign in their criminal behaviour, banning banks from allowing gangsters to set up accounts.

Members can distinguish themselves with intricate tattoos, which come to symbolise a person’s toughness and acceptance of being an outcast from society.

Shirai had tried to keep a low profile during his stay in Thailand, the police said. He had received money to live on from a visiting Japanese man who came two or three times a year.

He was arrested for entering Thailand illegally without a passport or visa and will now be arrested to face prosecution in his homeland.