Yasuhiro Tsuyuki, former commissioner-general of the National Police Agency, has pinned high hopes on new measures aimed at cracking down on tokuryū crime groups comprised of loosely connected anonymous members that operate via social media.

To better combat such groups, Japanese police are set in October to conduct organizational reforms such as setting up a new dedicated investigation team and strengthening information gathering and analysis to help identify ringleaders.

In a recent interview, Tsuyuki stressed the importance of measures to fight tokuryū groups. "If (the reorganization) works, considerable results can be achieved," he said.

"The key to fighting organized crime is to take action against core members and neutralize the organizations."

Japanese police have succeeded in weakening boryokudan organized crime syndicates through intensive crackdowns on their leaders and other key members, according to Tsuyuki.

However, conventional crackdown methods do not work against tokuryū groups because they recruit new members using encrypted social media apps, making it difficult to identify the ringleaders, Tsuyuki said.

He also stressed the importance of identifying the masterminds and other key members by widely sharing and analyzing information obtained through investigations, in addition to stepping up efforts to clamp down on crimes such as special fraud, money laundering and robberies, which are major revenue sources for tokuryū groups.

Tsuyuki praised the upcoming reorganization, saying, "The cross-organizational efforts are appropriate."

As part of the reorganization, the NPA will set up a new department to gather information from police departments around the country for detailed analyses.

Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department will form a new headquarters in charge of creating crackdown strategies. The headquarters, to be led by the deputy chief of the Tokyo police, will be comprised of MPD investigators and some 200 officers who will be gathered by April 2026 from prefectural police departments across the country.

The MPD will also establish a dedicated investigation team made up of some 450 officers.

"I believe the series of measures are very suitable and will produce considerable results," Tsuyuki said.

Challenges remain, however, including difficulties conducting investigations against tokuryū groups that have their bases overseas.

Underlining the importance of cooperating with the law-enforcement authorities of other countries, Tsuyuki said that police can "weaken tokuryū groups" by constantly working with overseas investigators and expanding the NPA's international investigation division.

Because tokuryū groups use cutting-edge technologies such as encrypted apps, conventional investigation techniques such as wiretapping are outdated because they primarily target traditional communication methods such as telephone and email.

"The legal system has not caught up with the reality," Tsuyuki said.

Strengthening measures to prevent damage from crimes committed by tokuryū groups is also crucial. Tsuyuki cited examples such as Facebook and Instagram successfully reducing celebrity scam ads.

"If there is an environment where it is difficult to commit crimes, it could have a deterrent effect," Tsuyuki said, noting efforts by social media platform operators, such as creating a system to utilize artificial intelligence to detect fake arrest warrants — often used by tokuryū groups in special fraud cases — and issue a warning.

Investigation methods and systems, and damage prevention measures need to be constantly reviewed and upgraded, Tsuyuki said. To make these truly effective, "we need to look at the essence of the problem" without being bound by "precedents" and "fear of criticism from society," he said.