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Will the ease with which Ghosn fled Japan inspire infiltration by terrorists?

19 Comments

Auto executive Carlos Ghosn, who was once credited as the man who rescued Nissan Motor Co from failure, was arrested in November 2018 on suspicion of financial misconduct. He spent a good part of 2019 under detention while undergoing protracted interrogation by prosecutors. 

Then in a meticulously arranged caper on Dec 30, 2019 that would do credit to a Latin American drug lord, Ghosn fled Japan aboard a private jet to Lebanon -- one of three countries in which he holds citizenship. (The other two are France and Brazil.) 

Lebanon is unlikely to accept Japan's demand for Ghosn's extradition, but in any event Lebanese authorities have banned the fugitive 65-year-old businessman from leaving the country after Interpol issued a red notice for his arrest. 

"Ghosn's escape was orchestrated according to the manual of a civilian military contractor based in Massachusetts," a reporter on the international desk of a major newspaper tells Shukan Taishu (March 2-9). "A team of 10 people were involved, two of whom were former Green Berets." 

In other words, Ghosn pulled off his escape from Japan using the same type of mercenaries hired to battle terrorists in third-world countries and rescue hostages. 

Ghosn's escape from Japan may have other repercussions, since it exposed the country's weaknesses in the dealing with extradition of criminal suspects. "Countries in which fugitives from Japan may safely go to avoid extradition are widely known. If this problem is not addressed, the day may soon come when they become 'havens for terrorists,'" Shigeru Ishiba, a former minster of defense, and who is considered an authority on national security, was quoted as saying. 

"Ghosn is believed to have been concealed in a large case used for musical instruments, which was slipped past the security check at Kansai International Airport, and flown abroad in a private jet," said a source in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. "It appears the caper was planned that way after the foreign security operatives identified a blind spot in the airport's security." 

Actually, Shukan Taishu's writer asserts, it could just as easily have been Haneda or Narita, since security is lax at both of Tokyo's main international airports. 

"It's easy to slip through security checks, what they call suri-nuke (to give someone the slip), the source continued. "The fact is, the airport staff are too lenient toward passengers. They should be more wary. Since Japan has little experience in attacks from terrorists, you could say it gets away with slipshod security." 

It is expected that this year, more than 35 million foreign tourists will enter Japan. 

"Using the Olympics as cover, it's entirely possible that groups like al-Qaida and so on may plan attacks," the police source added. "I suppose the ease with which Ghosn made his escape may have helped convince them to start planning some sort of attack." 

Happily, the Shukan Taishu article does not go into specifics concerning the alleged porosity of Japan's points of entry and exit. Which is just as well we suppose, since anyone who lays out 460 yen for a copy of the magazine would have access to such information.

© Japan Today

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19 Comments
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Oh come on now!!!!! Seriously???? Now all terrorist attacks on Japan will be blamed of Carlos??

13 ( +14 / -1 )

Doubt it, but maybe not a great suggestion and one that could inspire some randoms out there.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Firstly, it was not easy, and secondly, extremist radical terrorists dont worry about fleeing.

Nonsensical article.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

Ghosn took the most complicated and most expensive way to leave.

It's usually much easier. Look at the map : it's islands. Just take a boat.

Then to get in , it's surper easy. Future terrorists just need to come as tourists. Or more likely, they are born in Japan and never left.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Thus far, every terrorist attack in Japan has been by Japanese. So how are you going to keep them out?

9 ( +10 / -1 )

it exposed the country's weaknesses in the dealing with extradition of criminal suspects

Don't know about that. It certainly exposed the horrendous and medieval "justice" system in this country.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

In the columns of this online newspaper some weeks before the escape of Ghosn I predicted and warned the high possibility of his escape. I strongly recommended that he should, under no circumstances, be given house-arrest bail terms. I am in this field of work . However, as the writer suggests Japanese authorities seem very naive towards terrorism risks (and now even coronavirus). Maybe, in some ways, you have been too protected over years with a feeling on invincibility and superiority ? The country will no longer be the same and have to adapt quickly

0 ( +1 / -1 )

What all the hundreds of thousands of terrorists, waiting in line to "infiltrate" Japan?

Why on Earth would they want to? Even supposing they exist.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Yes, I don't have the impression that Japan is an obvious target of terrorists. If they wanted to, they could have made attacks already. And Ghosn went to Lebanon, which according to the news, is in a state of collapse. It seems he jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Oh come on now!!!!! Seriously???? Now all terrorist attacks on Japan will be blamed of Carlos??

Of course, as can be seen from that saga Japanese people never do anything wrong

yeah, next Carlos will be blamed for spreading the coronavirus to the middle east....

exactly. I mean why stop there? Cheap shots are cheap shots.

Don't know about that. It certainly exposed the horrendous and medieval "justice" system in this country.

ABSOLUTELY. So why aren't we talking about THAT??

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I always question the wisdom on publishing such articles, giving hints to would be criminals; a how-to example of getting away. Probably not the first time nor the last. For example, there are posters up for wanted the 1995 members of Oum Shinrikyo (spelling?) sarin attacks. Ghosn could have just given the police an idea that these people just may not be in Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Ghosn wanted to get out not get in!

Escaping from MOJ’s draconian incarceration was his goal.

And getting into Japan on the sly is easily possible as the North Koreans have shown over the years.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Terrorists arriving in Japan in piano boxes?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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