On the 5th, the Ibaraki Prefectural Police and the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau arrested two people, including Sumio Yoshida (76), president of a staffing company in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki Prefecture, from Terada, Toride City, Ibaraki Prefecture, on suspicion of violating the Immigration and Refugee Act (aiding illegal employment) for sending two Vietnamese nationals who had overstayed their visa status to work in a factory. The prefectural police foreign affairs division has not revealed whether they have admitted to the charges.

The other suspect is the company’s managing director, Yuri Yoshida, also known as Li Hyo-chen (43), of Higashi Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture. The two were arrested on suspicion of dispatching two Vietnamese nationals whose residence status had expired to a construction machinery parts manufacturing plant in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture, between January 2023 and July 2024.