BI notes presence of law enforcers when Yakuza chiefs arrive at NAIA

Immigration authorites have noted the presence of certain officers and members of law enforcement agencies at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport whenever chieftains of the Yakuza gang arrive.

Only the other day, some officers and members of the Philippine National Police were on hand to "escort" three leaders of the Japanese criminal syndicate, who arrived at the NAIA from Narita, Japan on board a Japan Airlines flight.

The PNP officers and men left in a huff when immigration intelligence agents plucked Mizuma Tasushi, 34, Tukumi Musanoba, 29 and Yokoro Yoshikuni, 38, from the immigration queue and brought them to the interrogation room for questioning.

The Japanese had tatoos all over their bodies seen after they asked to strip off their shirts, indicating their high ranks in the criminal syndicate. They were summarily excluded just like the three other Yakuza gang members who allegedly tried three days ago to enter the country with the help of some PNP men.

Some airport policemen have also been monitored on several occasions waiting for the arrival of Yakuza gang members at the NAIA. Top chieftains of the gang always have PNP officers and airport police at hand when they arrive at the airport.

A top officer of the regional aviation security office was sacked only last month for trying to facilitate the entry of a Japanese drug lord, whose arrival was being monitored by the US embassy and the Interpol.

The Yakuzas appear to have connections with some officers and men of the PNP and the airport police whom they call to help them facilitate entry into the country.

And they are allegedly even provided police escorts and bodyguards when they are in the country to oversee the gang’s operations that include karaoke bars and clubs that front for illegal activities like illegal recruitment, prostitution, gunrunning, and even murders for hire.

Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo has made it a policy to ban the entry into the country members of the Yakuza and other criminal syndicates, saying that "we don’t want to add the number of our local criminals."

Domingo has instructed Danilo Almeda, head immigration supervisor at the NAIA, not to allow the entry of any member of a foreign-based criminal syndicate.

But the Yakuzas keep on trying to enter the country with the help of some PNP and airport personnel because of their extensive business in the country and also because many of them have Filipino women as common-law wives. – Rey Arquiza