Japanese accused of luring Thais for prostitution held in RP

First posted 02:18pm (Mla time) Jan 19, 2006
By Tetch Torres
Agence France-Presse, INQ7.net




(UPDATE) A JAPANESE fugitive accused of recruiting scores of Thai women to work as prostitutes in Japan has been arrested in the Philippines, the immigration bureau said in a statement Thursday.

Yukio Oneda, 57, arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Tuesday as he stepped off a commercial flight from Bangkok, is to be deported to Japan, the bureau statement said.

"He is now detained at our Bicutan jail pending issuance of a summary deportation order against him by the Board of Commissioners," Immigration chief Alipio Fernandez said.

Oneda has been placed on the Philippines' watchlist through the request of Interpol-Tokyo and Japan's national police agency, the immigration bureau said.

On Aug. 26, 2005, the Ueda summary court in Nagano prefecture issued a warrant of arrest against Oneda for allegedly violating Japan's employment security law, the equivalent of the Philippines' anti-human trafficking law.

Oneda allegedly recruited a Thai woman and
was forced into prostitution at a house in Ueda-shi, Nagano, Japan, the immigration bureau said.

The accused had visited Thailand at least 54 times since January 2002, the bureau said.