Senior Yakuza gang member Shigeharu Shirai will be deported to Japan on Thursday following his detention at the Immigration Bureau, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.
Deputy Royal Thai Police chief Pol Gen Wirachai Songmetta said Mr Shirai will be released from the bureau prison and placed on a flight to Japan on Thursday, the FM91 traffic police website reported.
The member of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza gang is serving a jail term for overstaying in Thailand and entering the country illegally.
The 72-year-old was arrested in Lop Buri on Jan 10 on charges of allegedly colluding with seven other gang members in the murder of a key member of a rival Yakuza criminal syndicate in 2003. The other seven were arrested, but Mr Shirai escaped to Thailand in 2005. He had a Thai wife.
Japanese police had contacted their Thai counterparts to hunt him. Police mapped out a plan to arrest him after photos showing him with chess players were posted on Facebook in August by a man who admired his intricate tattoos.
