Police arrested a Tokyo company president Monday on suspicion of forging international driver's licenses and put his brother in California on the wanted list for alleged collusion.
The two suspects were identified as Lee Gyo Ju, 40, president of a pachinko machine sales company, who has South Korean nationality and resides in Edogawa Ward, Tokyo; and his brother, Lee Gyo Chon, 38, who lives in California.
The elder Lee allegedly counterfeited driver's licenses in Japan while the younger Lee forged them in the United States and sent them to his brother by mail.
Police said they suspect the brothers sold the forged licenses to Japanese whose licenses had been revoked and to foreigners in Japan who could not obtain driver's licenses. They allegedly sold them for 70,000 yen to 300,000 yen apiece starting in summer 1999 and made 40 million yen to 50 million yen.
Police said they are planning to ask Interpol to issue an international warrant for the younger Lee.
Last Wednesday, police arrested Fumio Furukawa, 56, the president of a self-styled "friendship association of international driver's licenses," in connection with forged driver's licenses.
According to police, the elder Lee and Furukawa separately advertised the license business on Web sites, in English-language magazines and in Japanese sports dailies.
They received photos, passports and residence cards from applicants and sent them to the U.S., the police said.
Furukawa told police he bought forged driver's licenses from a Chinese-American in California.
Although there is no known contact point between the elder Lee and Furukawa, police said the forged licenses have points of resemblance and there may be a common forgery organization in the U.S.