Luffy robberies

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The Luffy robberies were a series of robberies in Japan that took place in 2021 and 2022. Linked to the alias "Luffy," these robberies are suspected to have been organized by detainees based in the Philippines. In 2023, four Japanese nationals were deported back to Japan due to their suspected involvement in the Luffy robberies.

The Luffy robberies were linked to the arrest of 36 Japanese nationals in a hotel in Makati, Philippines, for running a telecom fraud and extortion scheme.^[1][2] According to Japanese police, the group victimized 1,393 Japanese nationals, causing damages estimated at around ¥2 billion (₱1 billion).^[1] The detained individuals were deported back to Japan between 2020 and 2021.^[3]

The Luffy robberies were led by an individual operating under the alias "Luffy," named after Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist of the Japanese manga series One Piece. Japanese and Philippine media reports have identified Yuki Watanabe as "Luffy," but this has not been confirmed by Philippine police,^[4] leaving it up to their Japanese counterparts to verify the identity of the individual behind the alias "Luffy."^[5]

Yuki Watanabe was detained at the Bureau of Immigration Bicutan Detention Center on April 19, 2021, where he has remained indefinitely and has been subject to a summary deportation order since May 28, 2021. However, his deportation has been placed on hold due to a Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) charge filed against him. Another Japanese national, Imamura Kiyoto, also has a VAWC case filed against him, and his deportation has been deferred as well^[6] Tomonobu Saito and Fujita Toshiya are other suspects in the case.^[7] All four are suspected to be senior members of the group behind the Makati hotel fraud and extortion scheme uncovered in 2019.^[1] As of February 2023, Japan reported that they had arrested the four suspects. ^[8]

On May 26, 2024, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco announced that Rendel Ryan Sy of the Fugitive Search Unit had arrested Nagaura Hiroki, 26, at Estrella Avenue, Poblacion, Makati. Hiroki, who is charged with telecommunications fraud and has a standing arrest warrant for theft under the Penal Code of Japan issued by the Tokyo Summary Court, underwent deportation proceedings and was incarcerated in Camp Bagong Diwa.^[9][10]

Criminal activity in Japan related to the Luffy robberies is believed to have first begun in the summer of 2021,^[4] with more than 50 cases in fourteen prefectures linked to the group.^[11] Watanabe, Kiyoto, Saito, and Toshiya, the suspected ringleaders of the Luffy operation, remain in detention in the Philippines.^[4]

They primarily recruited accomplices via social media, offering "dark part-time jobs" in exchange for high financial compensation. Instructions were relayed to gang members via the Telegram application. Accomplices would pose as police officers or Japan Financial Services Agency members to trick victims into believing their accounts had been compromised. They would then attempt to visit the victims' residences to steal their ATM cards and withdraw all the money from the victims' accounts.^[4] Accomplices in Japan received instructions from individuals based in the Philippines, operating under the names Luffy and Kim.^[11]

On January 30, 2023, the government of Japan requested the deportation of the four suspects back to Japan. They had first requested deportation in 2019, but the suspects remained in the Philippines awaiting trial for separate criminal charges.^[12][13]

Toshiya Fujita and Kiyoto Imamura were deported back to Japan on February 7, 2023, after their cases in the Philippines were dismissed.^[7] Yuki Watanabe and Tomonobu Saito were deported the following day.^[5]

The Department of Justice has coordinated with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Bureau of Immigration to investigate the previously pending cases against the four Japanese nationals. However, these charges are suspected to be contrived cases intended to prevent their deportation back to Japan.^[5]