## (3) Situation of Offenses that Encourage Illegal Entering/Residence

Trends in the situation of clearance on invoking the false passports used by foreign nationals for past five years are shown in Table 2-15.

Moreover, by looking at the nationality or region, it is found that the percentage of the Chinese and the Philippine persons is high. In such cases, there have been numerous cases of fraudulent marriage for the purpose of illicitly obtaining visas as a spouse of a Japanese national, and cases of forging and selling certificates of alien registration to be used by foreign nationals illegally staying in Japan for the purpose of faking legal residence.

Table 2-15 Trends in the Number of Persons Arrested Who Illegally Entered by Making Use of a False Passport (2004-2008)

Year Category	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Total	1,720	1,770	1,350	1,079	804
China	767	738	472	284	193
Philippines	275	323	263	259	228
Thailand	125	142	127	79	75
Korea	99	99	88	60	47
Bangladesh	90	100	59	32	19
Others	364	368	341	365	242

The trends of clearances of employment related crimes for past five years are shown in Table 2-16. In such type of cases, job-placement brokers and employers have some relation between them, and it is often found that the Boryokudans also takes part in these cases.

Table 2-16 Trends in the Situation of Clearance of Crimes Related to the Employment of Foreign Workers (2004-2008)

Year Category	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Cases	Persons	Cases	Persons	Cases	Persons	Cases	Persons	Cases	Persons
Total	389	445	381	448	412	448	390	455	395	410
Encouraging Illegal Employment (Immigration Act )	378	431	372	438	406	442	385	450	391	410
Employment Security Act	9	12	5	4	5	6	0	0	1	0
Worker Dispatch Act (Note)	2	2	3	4	0	0	4	1	3	0
Labor Standard Act	0	0	1	2	1	0	1	4	0	0

Note: Act on Securing the Proper Operation of Worker Dispatching Undertaking and Improved Working Conditions for Dispatched Workers

The police are cooperating with relevant institutions to conduct active information exchange with foreign investigative organizations and to further promote joint raids and cooperative investigations.

### 3. Trends in International Crime Syndicates

## (1) Tendency in Formation of International Crime Syndicates by Foreign Nationals Visiting Japan

In 2008, the number of accomplice cases accounts for 63.1% of the total number of Penal Code offenses by foreign nationals visiting Japan, quadruple the number of those by Japanese nationals (16.3%) $ ^{1} $ .

By looking by the type, the ratio of break-in robberies with accomplices was extremely high and 45.7% was conducted by groups of more than four persons. Moreover, the ratio of burglaries with accomplices was 37.0%, and 10.2% of this involves group of more than four persons.

These statistics show that foreign nationals visiting Japan have a greater tendency to commit offenses as a group than Japanese nationals, and that their crimes tend to be increasingly organized.

Note 1: Incidents of joint violations by foreign nationals and Japanese nationals are recorded in the following categories: joint violations committed principally by foreign nationals and depend on the suspects' nationality and area, or by Japanese nationals.