Life Sentence Sought for “Luffy” Crime Ring Member

Tokyo, Feb. 5 (Jiji Press)–Japanese prosecutors Thursday sought a life sentence for Toshiya Fujita, a senior member of a crime ring behind a series of robbery and fraud cases across the country. The lay-judge trial for 41-year-old Fujita at Tokyo District Court, presided over by judge Sakon Togari, will conclude with the defense’s final arguments later Thursday. The verdict is set to be handed down Feb. 16. Fujita partially denied the charges against him, including robbery resulting in death, in his first hearing. His defense has argued that he is merely an accomplice in the series of criminal incidents. The defendant and other senior members of the Philippines-based crime ring, who called themselves “Luffy,” are believed to have instructed people they recruited through social media to carry out robberies. In one robbery incident at a house in Komae, Tokyo, in January 2023, a 90-year-old woman was beaten to death. Another senior ring member, 48-year-old Tomonobu Kojima, is appealing a 20-year prison term handed down by a high court on charges including aiding a robbery resulting in injury. The trials of two other senior members charged with robbery resulting in death–Yuki Watanabe and Kiyoto Imamura, both 41–have yet to begin. According to his indictment, Fujita conspired with perpetrators and got involved in seven robbery cases between October 2022 and January 2023 in Tokyo and three other prefectures, including an incident in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, western Japan. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]