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June 30, 2026
 

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ORGANIZED CRIME

Guards escort accused scam boss Chen Zhi off a China Southern plane in Beijing in this undated image released on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 9, 2026
‘Sever the chain’: Scam tycoons in China’s crosshairs
China is moving against the scammers making fortunes in Southeast Asia, driven by mounting public pressure and Beijing’s desire to keep control of judicial processes, analysts say.
A man inspecting a garage damaged by Thai airstrikes in Poipet town, Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Dec 19, 2025
Thailand says Cambodia border fight is also a war on scammers
The framing shows Bangkok is seeking to align itself with both Washington and Beijing.
Guardia di Finanza — the Italian tax police — carry out a search at a textile firm during a recent investigation, in the Tuscan city of Prato, Italy.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Dec 11, 2025
Is sabotage unraveling the trial of Chinese crime gangs in Italian fashion?
The many mishaps that have occurred — from the disappearance of documents to the resignation of interpreters — have led a senior prosecutor to suspect so.
Senior police officers from Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures hold a joint news conference in Tokyo Friday following the arrests of the alleged masterminds behind a series of robberies.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 8, 2025
Masterminds behind Tokyo-area robberies used X to recruit people, sources say
The four are believed to have used accounts on the social media platform to recruit subordinates by posting “dark” job offers, including those that promised same-day payment.
U.S. President Donald Trump onboard Air Force One on Tuesday
WORLD
Nov 28, 2025
Trump says U.S. will soon take action against Venezuelan drug traffickers on land
U.S. troops have carried out at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since September, killing at least 83 people.
A vehicle carrying defendant Yukio Tanaka enters the Kyoto District Court for the first hearing of a trial over the fatal shooting of the president of Gyoza no Osho, in Kyoto on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 26, 2025
Yakuza executive pleads not guilty over Osho president shooting
“I’m definitely not the culprit” in shooting Osho Food Service President Takayuki Ohigashi, said Yukio Tanaka.
A 43-year-old Tokyo Metropolitan Police inspector was arrested Wednesday for allegedly leaking investigative information to a group suspected of illegally brokering women to sex parlors and hostess bars across Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 13, 2025
Police officer arrested for leaking information to illegal scout group
Daisuke Jinbo is suspected of providing the group with images showing the areas covered by cameras installed by the police.
The KK Park complex on Sunday, following a declared military crackdown that left some damage at the scam compound in Myanmar's eastern Myawaddy township
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 11, 2025
Images show Myanmar scam hub largely standing despite crackdown
One expert said the images were evidence that military raids were limited in order to preserve the hugely profitable illicit industry.
Buildings are adorned with advertisements for gambling sites and what appears to be Starlink satellite dishes at KK Park complex in Myanmar's eastern Myawaddy township, as pictured from Mae Sot district in Thailand's border province of Tak on Sept. 17.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 9, 2025
Myanmar junta says demolishing 150 scam hub buildings
Experts say the raids are likely limited, choreographed and intentionally publicized as the junta tries to appear cracking down on scammers while still profiting from them.
People from various countries who were working in the KK Park compound in Myanmar and crossed into Thailand via the Moei river, board a vehicle on Oct. 24 as Thai soldiers keep watch.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 5, 2025
Myanmar scam hub sweep triggers fraudster recruitment rush
Online scam hubs have mushroomed across Southeast Asia, draining victims of billions of dollars annually in elaborate romance and crypto cons.
Cyber-enabled heists rely on social engineering and a knowledge of how the industry works, allowing hackers successfully pass as insiders, according to Proofpoint.
WORLD
Nov 3, 2025
Hackers and crime rings are teaming up to steal cargo, cyber firm says
Such crimes can create massive disruptions to supply chains and cost companies billions, with criminals stealing everything from energy drinks to electronics.
French police officers stand next to a furniture elevator used by robbers to enter the Louvre Museum in Paris on Oct. 19.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 3, 2025
Louvre heist work of petty criminals, not organized crime, prosecutor says
The profiles of the four people under arrest so far are not typical of organized crime professionals capable of executing complex operations, the Paris prosecutor said.
Buildings said to be a scam hub in southeast Myanmar as seen from across the border, in Tak, Thailand, on Feb. 21. Cybercrime hubs in Myanmar, Cambodia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia are part of a sprawling criminal enterprise that has stolen tens of billions of dollars from victims worldwide.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Nov 3, 2025
How an accused kingpin built an empire from Cambodia to London
Chen Zhi had cultivated for himself an image of legitimacy. That’s now unraveling, after the U.S. and U.K. accused him of running a transnational criminal ring.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said India has sought Thailand's cooperation in the repatriation of some 500 Indian nationals who fled a Myanmar scam center.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 29, 2025
India to repatriate 500 nationals who fled Myanmar scam center: Thai PM
More than 1,500 people from 28 countries have crossed the border into Thailand following a military raid.
U.S. Marines come ashore from a landing craft utility during training exercises in Arroyo, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 16.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 21, 2025
In Trump’s drug war, U.S. officials avoid tackling legal status of prisoners
The U.S. government chose not to use the term “prisoners of war” to describe two survivors of an attack last week by the U.S. military.
Suspect Qian Ling (center), who is believed to be the group's leader, following his re-arrest, in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 17, 2025
Tokyo police arrest phone scam group leader
The Metropolitan Police Department suspects that the group was behind at least some 500 phone scam cases committed in half a year through January.
Motorists ride past the Prince International Plaza in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. U.S. authorities on Tuesday unsealed an indictment against Chen Zhi, a British-Cambodian businessperson who owns Prince Group and who is accused of running forced labor camps in Cambodia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 16, 2025
U.S. and U.K. sanctions target Cambodia’s Prince Group and tycoon Chen Zhi
Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia’s largest conglomerates, was a front for “one of Asia’s largest transnational criminal organizations,” the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Ferries cross the Mekong River in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Oct. 8. U.S. prosecutors have charged Chen Zhi, the chairman of Phnom Penh-based Prince Group, with engaging in a wire-fraud conspiracy and operating a money-laundering scheme.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 15, 2025
U.S. seizes $15B in bitcoin and charges Cambodian mogul with cyberfraud
Prince Group Chairman Chen Zhi, who was born in China but emigrated to Cambodia, is not in custody and remains at large.
Alleged victims of Myanmar's scam centers in the process of repatriation on Feb. 12. Fraud factories in Myanmar blamed for scamming Chinese and American victims out of billions of dollars are still in business and bigger than ever.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Oct 14, 2025
Myanmar scam cities booming despite crackdown — using Musk’s Starlink
China, Thailand and Myanmar had pressured militias into vowing to “eradicate” the compounds in February, releasing around 7,000 people from a brutal call center-like system.
Ana and Maria, (not their real names), victims of sex trafficking from Latin America, clean dishes in Tirane on Aug. 1.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Oct 7, 2025
‘I found hell’: the women ensnared in Albania’s global sex trade
Empowered by the global reach of cybercrime, criminal networks are using Albania as a transit point to exploit women from other nations around the world.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Chinese and Russian bombers and fighter jets stage joint patrol near Japan
A Chinese Air Force H-6 bomber is seen during a joint patrol with Russian military aircraft on Saturday.
U.S. missile moves in Japan send China clear message: A new era has arrived
Soldiers conduct the first Typhon midrange capability live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States, firing an SM-6 missile in July last year in Australia's Northern Territory during Exercise Talisman Sabre.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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