### Column 4. Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty

During the course of international crime investigations, there are times in which it is necessary to request the gathering of evidence or the carrying out of investigations in a certain location by a foreign country.

In countries with which Japan has not signed a mutual legal assistance treaty, investigations are carried out based on international comity but this does not mean that the request for legal assistance will be fulfilled. Furthermore, when requests for assistance are made through diplomatic channels, it can be difficult to receive a speedy response.

For these reasons, Japan signs mutual legal assistance treaties with many different countries which create obligations to assist with investigations, increasing the likelihood that such assistance will occur. In addition, requests for assistance are not made through diplomatic channels but directly through government authorities identified in each treaty, allowing for effective and speedy processing.

## (4) Progress of Operations with Foreign Security Agencies

As international criminal organizations commit crime on a global scale, even if a crime is committed in Japan, from an early and effective stage the police watch for the possibility that an investigation may need to expand overseas. There are instances when it is necessary to plan for close cooperation with foreign security agencies.

In order to effectively investigate international criminal organizations, the police actively undertake common operations with such security agencies from the time a crime is committed.

## (5) Chasing after Suspects who Flee Japan

There are naturally many crime suspects who either flee Japan after a crime is committed or are expected to do so (hereinafter referred to as, “international fugitives”). There are many times when it becomes necessary to begin an international investigation after a fugitive flees the country, and although these investigations have difficult aspects, the police are working to make sure that criminals are not allowed to escape and delivers strict punishment to these criminals when caught.

When it is feared that a suspect may flee the country, the Immigration Bureau is informed of the case before the suspect leaves Japan. Should the fugitive make it out of the country, investigation assistance is requested from investigation institutions via diplomatic channels and the ICPO, and cooperation is ascertained through mutual legal assistance treaties. In these ways the police are able to confirm identities and locate suspects. In addition, suspects are extradited via extradition treaties, and should a criminal be forced to leave the country they have fled to, the suspect is taken into custody on an aircraft in international waters in an effort to assure an arrest. In addition, depending on the case, information on the crime the international fugitive has committed in Japan is sent to the country to which the fugitive has fled and the laws concerning foreign criminals of the country in which the suspect is in are applied.

## (6) Responses to Crimes involving Drugs or Firearms

## 1 ) Measures against Drugs

The drug trade and drug selling organizations are problems which reach across national borders and cannot be solved through measures in one country alone. Efforts are being forwarded within G8 Summit Meetings and the United Nations with the recognition that these threats are problems of a global scale.