How Philippine prison kingpins ran Japan, South Korea crime rings

The prison cell, it turns out, is no obstacle to running a criminal empire. All you need is a smartphone, an encrypted messaging app and an overwhelmed corrections system, even if it is thousands of kilometres away. That was the conclusion law enforcement officials in South Korea and Japan reached after tracing a string of drug deals, home invasions and brazen robberies to inmates already serving time in the Philippines. The cases exposed a darkly inventive new chapter in Southeast Asia’s...

By Jonathan Vit