http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20 ... Y02001.htm

20 dollars IDs foil immigration officials
The Yomiuri Shimbun

Colombians arrested here over their suspected involvement in a burglary ring entered Japan on fake passports and other forms of counterfeit identification purchased for only 20 dollars, police learned Thursday.

The Hyogo prefectural police quoted one of the suspects as saying there is an organization in Colombia that forges such documents.

The ring is suspected of committing more than 100 burglaries in 11 prefectures, including Osaka and Hyogo, over the last three years, netting items and cash worth hundreds of millions of yen.

The Hyogo prefectural police and other police headquarters have arrested 12 members of the ring, nine of them Colombians. The police reported that some of the suspects said that in addition to the forged passports, they bought bogus driver's licenses and cash cards before entering Japan for only 20 dollars.

Some of the suspects reportedly told the police that many houses are left unlocked in Japan, and people here pay little thought to crime prevention.

The suspects are believed to have sold electrical appliances and other stolen items and sent the money to relatives in Colombia.

According to the Hyogo prefectural police, one of the suspects previously had been deported from Japan, but returned on a fake passport.

The police arrested the alleged ringleader Akihiro Nagashima, 36, and two Colombian men in November on suspicion of stealing a television and other items from a house in Wakayama. Nagashima has been indicted on the charge.

The burglary ring is believed to comprise about 20 members, about 80 percent of whom are believed to be Colombians.

(Jan. 28, 2006)