LOP BURI: A Japanese yakuza boss fleeing arrest for the murder of a rival criminal gangster has been arrested in Muang district, Lop Buri, after 14 years on the run.
A combined team of Interpol, local and immigration police detained Shineharu Shirai, 72, in tambon Tha Hin of Muang district on Wednesday while he was out walking to buy food.
Mr Shirai is wanted by Japanese authorities for colluding with seven other gang members in the murder of a key member of a rival yakuza criminal syndicate in mid-July 2003. After the crime he fled Japan and until recently his whereabouts remained unknown.
Then Japanese authorities obtained information he was hiding in Thailand and had a Thai wife. They sought help from the Royal Thai Police in tracking down the suspect.
Police finally found him in Lop Buri, which led to his arrest.
The suspect has intricate tattoos all over his torso and is missing the little finger on his left hand - both signs of his yakuza membership.
Pol Col Ukrit Pooklan, deputy chief of Lop Buri police, said the suspect liked going to buy food at a market in Muang district and played chess with local people there almost every day, according to Khaosod.
Chess players called him "Kobori'' and nobody knew he was the leader of a yakuza gang,
He also liked to show his samurai tattoos to young men. Photos of him were posted online.
The images of his tattoos were subsequently copied and sent to the Japanese embassy, which later confirmed the tattoos were those of a yakuza gang member, Pol Col Ukrit said.
He used to have a Thai wife, but they divorced 2-3 years ago.
