Sep 10 (tokyoreporter.com) - Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted a mail order service based in a Nerima Ward that sold about 1 million illegal pornographic DVDs each year since 2012. The operation is believed to have funded organized crime, reports TV Asahi.
Earlier this month, police raided the headquarters of the operation and found Yoshikazu Egawa, the 45-year-old leader, and a male Korean national, also 45, to be in possession of 23,000 DVDs, whose content is deemed to be waisetsu, or obscene, with the intent to sell.
Under Japanese law, all exposed genitalia appearing in films must be obscured. Four other persons have been arrested in the case.
Telephone and direct mail
According to police, the residence was used to manufacture the DVDs. In order to evade a bust, customers were not solicited via the internet; instead, the telephone and direct mail were used for the placement of orders.
The operation sold about 5 million DVDs with revenue totaling 1.5 billion yen since 2012, police said.
Police are investigating whether funds from the operation were used to fund a criminal syndicate.
Source: ANNnewsCH
