Tokyo
police seize man after 15-hour stand-off in which suspected mobster
kills fellow gangster
Apr 22,
2007
TOKYO - POLICE stormed an apartment in Tokyo yesterday, seizing an
armed suspected gangster and ending a 15-hour stand-off.
The suspect, identified as 36-year-old Yuji Takeshita, is believed
to have gunned down a fellow gangster before holing himself up in
the apartment.
The violence came just days after the mayor of the southern city of
Nagasaki was shot dead by another suspected mobster in an unrelated
killing.
Crime syndicates are responsible for most of Japan's rare gun
attacks, and police believe the latest flare-up could be a symptom
of infighting in the underworld.
Takeshita's stand-off with police began on Friday, when he
allegedly shot dead a mobster from his own gang in a western suburb
of the Japanese capital.
As police closed in on him, he barricaded himself inside his own
apartment, firing a series of shots at the officers outside, said a
Tokyo Metropolitan Police spokesman.
Police officials said the gangster had fired nine shots from the
apartment, with one hitting a police vehicle. No one was
injured.
During the siege, police had another gangster call Takeshita on the
phone to persuade him to give himself up.
Japanese newspapers reported him as replying: 'I want to apologise
with my death.'
Police threw smoke bombs and stormed Takeshita's apartment shortly
after 3am local time on Saturday. They found him with severe head
wounds, having apparently shot himself.
Investigators found a pair of handguns in his apartment and later
arrested him at the hospital for illegal possession of
firearms.
Analysts say the recent shootings are signs that gangsters are
getting desperate in keeping their turf and finding income sources
since the government stepped up measures against them in the
1990s.
Police believe internecine strife has also been generated by the
Yamaguchi-gumi gang's rapid expansion of operations in Tokyo, the
traditional base of Japan's second largest gang, the
Sumiyoshi-kai.
Japan has strict gun control laws, and legal firearms are mostly in
the hands of hunters and police. Illegal firearms are mostly in the
hands of 'yakuza' gangsters, whose mainstays include prostitution,
drugs, extortion and finance.
The shooting of Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Ito by a gangster last Tuesday
has prompted lawmakers, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to
call for even tighter supervision.
The government is set to hold a taskforce meeting on gun control
this week, and media reports have said it is aiming to submit a
Bill to Parliament to revise gun control legislation by the end of
the current session, on June 23.
Gun-related crimes are not common in Japan, with the number of
shootings having fallen to a record low of 53 last year, with most
involving members of organised crime. Of that number, 36 were
thought to have involved gangsters. Only two resulted in
deaths.