“Luffy ” Calling Himself “High King”, Giving 100 Million Yen to Release Him and Carries Tens of Millions of Yen in Cash

I am the High King.

This is how the suspect, Yuki Watanabe, 38, a.k.a. “Raffy,” who is being held at the “Bicutan Camp” in the Philippines and is in charge of directing a black market robbery, is said to have referred to himself.

Watanabe was arrested in April 2021 on suspicion of assaulting a Filipino woman.

Watanabe was staying at a five-star luxury hotel overlooking Manila Bay at the time. Every night he would go to the VIP exclusive casino, and as a guest of the highest class, food and drink were free. There is also testimony that several women were staying with the suspect Watanabe at the casino.

When investigators with an arrest warrant got into the hotel, Watanabe was holding his own birthday party in the suite room (the day after his arrest was Watanabe’s birthday). There were six Japanese, three Korean, and a number of Filipino female companions in the room, and the table was lined with lobsters, cakes, and other luxury foods. The suspect Watanabe handed over 50 million pesos (about 120 million yen) and demanded to be let go, but was denied by investigators.

Wanted a “receiver” under the name “Tanaka.”

After his arrest, Watanabe continued to lead an elegant life, paying hefty bribes to those involved. He lived comfortably in an air-conditioned VIP room in the “Bikutan Camp,” where cockroaches crawled on the floor and the toilets were covered with feces and urine. Why did Watanabe have so much money?

The woman was transporting the cash she had obtained through special fraud and other means from Japan. In March 2019, she visited the Philippines through an acquaintance and met and began dating Watanabe, who claimed to be a businessman. It is known that he visited Manila again the following month and gave Watanabe about 20 million yen.

In addition to being a “courier,” A also had another role: she recruited “receivers” to receive cash and cash cards from elderly people via social networking sites. He gave them specific instructions, such as, “Put the money in an envelope and keep it there. On Telegram, a highly confidential communication application, he used the alias ‘Tanaka,'” according to a reporter from the same department.

In June 2019, Watanabe’s girlfriend A received 12,750,000 yen from a “receiver” in front of a pharmacy in Shinjuku, Tokyo, immediately after returning from the Philippines. Five months later, in November of the same year, the Osaka police arrested her on suspicion of theft, and she was sentenced to prison in the Osaka District Court.

The reason for the sentence was that “Watanabe played an important role in helping the group (of which he was the main suspect) to recover the proceeds of the crime,” the judge said. The details of the crime indicate that the suspect was highly trusted.

The suspect, Watanabe, is likely to be deported in February. His statement may reveal the whole story of the special fraud and black market robbery.