Vietnamese gang suspected of organized shoplifting arrested in Japan

Two Vietnamese men who managed the locations, Vu Van Khang, 26, and Nguyen Huu Tu, 29, were arrested for allegedly violating laws regarding organized crimes, the Asahi Shimbun reported.

The raided locations included a former Vietnamese restaurant, a house and a company office, where the stolen goods were stored, the Mainichi reported.

Japanese investigators initially suspected that criminal organizations linked Vietnamese people inside and outside of Japan for organized shoplifting operations targeting drugstores and other shops in Japan, before the goods are exported to Vietnam.

About 700 items were seized during the raids at the locations, with their monetary value yet to be confirmed.

The police said there might be more than 10 locations in Japan where the stolen goods are stored.

1,119 thefts of goods worth at least ¥100,000 ($660) happened at drugstores last year, according to Japan’s National Police Agency. 68 foreign nationals were arrested in such cases, 47 of them being Vietnamese.

The debts that Vietnamese technical trainees accumulate before arriving in Japan may have contributed to the rise in crime, said Wako Asato, an associate professor at the Kyoto University and an expert on immigration policies, as cited by the Asahi Shimbun.

The initial costs for Vietnamese coming to Japan is around ¥670,000 on average, among the highest for entrants, according to a survey by the Immigration Services Agency. Asato estimated the debts of Vietnamese coming to Japan at around ¥1 million. As people were unable to repay their debts during their internship, they began to form shoplifting groups instead, he added.