Photo/Illutration Large bags of ice are delivered to the immigration detention center in the Philippines where the four fraud suspects are being held on Feb. 5. (Koji Nishimura)

Two of the four Japanese fraud suspects held at an immigration detention center in Manila are expected to be deported to Japan as early as Feb. 7, sources said.

The other two could be deported the same day if Philippine courts accept local prosecutors’ requests to dismiss the criminal charges against them at hearings on Feb. 6.

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department has obtained arrest warrants for the four. They are believed to have led a group of fraudsters who used the Philippines as their base.

Around 15 Japanese police officers will be dispatched to the Philippines on Feb. 6 to bring the four to Japan, the sources said.

The four are: Yuki Watanabe, 38; Tomonobu Kojima, 45; Toshiya Fujita, 38; and Kiyoto Imamura, 38.

The Philippine government had said it intended to deport the four suspects together after criminal charges filed against them were dropped.

The cases have already been dismissed against Fujita and Imamura, the sources said. Watanabe and Kojima were scheduled to appear at court hearings on Feb. 6.

The MPD believes that Watanabe was the leader of the fraud group.

According to investigative sources, the fraudsters disguised themselves as police officers or financial services officials and phoned mainly elderly people in Japan. Through the scams, they stole the victims’ bank cards and drained their bank accounts.

Tokyo police also suspect the four were involved in a recent spate of violent robberies carried out around Japan, often on the instructions from a mobile phone user who called himself “Luffy.”

All four suspects are of no fixed abode, and their occupations are unknown.

Related News