Overview

• Metropolitan Police Department arrested Kazuyuki Yonekawa, 40, a sergeant at Tsukiji Police Station, on suspicion of fraud and forging and using an official document.
• He allegedly commissioned a counterfeit driver’s license via X for a few tens of thousands of yen to secure consumer finance loans, and he has admitted the allegations, citing debt and gambling losses.
• Police say the forged license bore a different name and address and was presented in May to open a bank account.
• Authorities are also probing whether Yonekawa sold several accounts in his own name, with about 180 deposits totaling around 70 million yen recorded from March to May and suspected to be proceeds from special fraud or SNS investment scams.
• Senior MPD official Junichiro Suga issued a public apology, and a separate officer was referred to prosecutors and disciplined on August 22 over a related account transfer case.