## 4 ) Forgeries of Passports and Alien Registration Certificates

Forgeries of passports, alien registration certificates and other documents mean that foreign nationals forge and use passports, alien registration certificates, driver's licenses and other identification papers in order to disguise themselves as lawful entrants into and departees from Japan, visitors in Japan, holders of driver's licenses and holders of work qualifications, etc. These actions constitute Penal Code offenses of counterfeiting of sealed official documents and uttering of counterfeit sealed official documents.

## 5 ) Furtherance of Illegal Employment

Furtherance of illegal employment involves practices of having foreign nationals visiting Japan without work qualifications work illegally or mediating their illegal employment. These actions constitute violations of the Immigration Control Act, the Employment Security Act and other laws.

Illegal employment is being furthered by various business operators seeking to secure cheap labor and brokers who get commissions for their go-between services, but Boryokudans gang groups may also get involved in illegal employment.

3. Globalization of Various Crimes

(1) Globalization of Drug-Related Offenses and Crimes Using Firearms

1) Drug-Related Offenses by Foreign Nationals Visiting Japan

a. Arrests of Foreign Nationals by Nationality/Land of Origin

In 2009, while arrests of foreign nationals visiting Japan for drug-related offenses numbered 577, a decrease of 45 (7.2%) from the previous year, the number of persons arrested for offenses related to stimulant drugs increased to account for 73.8% of the total arrests for drug-related offenses. By nationality/land of origin, those from Iran, the Philippines and Brazil had high ratios among foreign nationals arrested, with these three countries accounting for 43.8% of the total.

### b. Arrests of Iranians in Drug Trafficking Groups

In 2009, Iranian nationals arrested for stimulant drug-related offenses numbered 85, dropping 16, or 15.8% from the previous year. Iranians arrested for for-profit offenses $ ^{1} $ accounted for 77.6% of the total arrests, a conspicuously high ratio compared with those of other nationality/land of origin, indicating that Iranian nationals remain deeply involved in trafficking of stimulant drugs.

Some of recent cases also show that not only Iranian groups but also multinational crime organizations are committing drug trafficking offenses.

Diagram -14 For-profit Offenses as a Proportion of the Number of Foreign Nationals Arrested for Stimulant Drug-related Offenses (2009)

Note 1: Offenses of for-profit possession, for-profit sale and for-profit purchases

## 2 ) Drug Smuggling Offenses

In 2009, drug smuggling cases cleared came to 260, an increase of 61 (30.7%) over the previous year. Most of drugs abused in Japan are being smuggled into the country with the involvement of international drug criminal organizations.

Looking at stimulant drug smuggling during 2009, the number of cases cleared stood at 164 and the number of arrests came to 219, both increasing significantly from the previous year to the highest levels in the past decade. In addition to large-quantity smuggling offenses using ships as in the past, behind the sharp rise in the smuggling of stimulant drugs is the increase in portable smuggling offenses where mules recruited by drug-related criminal organizations smuggle drugs by concealing them in luggage carried on board airplanes or wrapped around their bodies.