Explosion in front of gang office leaves Kobe residents terrified

KOBE -- An explosion occurred in front of a gang office here early on Nov. 1, terrorizing local residents and sparking a police investigation.

Police rushed to the office of the Yamaken-gumi gang, which is affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi criminal syndicate, in Kobe's Chuo Ward after a resident nearby reported the sound of a blast and that their house windows had been shattered at around 2:40 a.m. on Nov. 1.

Officers from Ikuta Police Station found several dents on a stainless-steel column near the office's front door and a gunpowder-like smell wafting in the area. A metal cylinder, measuring about 1 centimeter in diameter and three centimeters in length and apparently part of the explosive material, was found inside the resident's home across from the gang office. Police suspect that someone had placed an explosive near the gang's office and have begun investigating the case on suspicion of destruction of property.

There were three residents on the second floor of the private house and three gangsters in the gang office at the time of the explosion, which reportedly took place at around 2:25 a.m. There were no reports of injury.

"I checked our security camera, but no one was on the footage," a gang member who had been at the office at that time was quoted as telling investigators.

The blast also damaged the glass windows and an aluminum door on the first floor of the private house. The explosion apparently sent the metal cylinder through a window of the house. There was a 1-centimeter-deep dent on a concrete road in front of the gang's office, while the glass windows on the first floor of the gang's warehouse adjacent to the private house were also shattered.

The gang's office is located in a densely populated area about 750 meters west of JR Motomachi Station and some 200 meters north of Kobe Rapid Transit Railway's Hanakuma Station.

"I quickly left my home after hearing a sound like something was shaking my condominium, but there was no one out there. I'm really scared," said a 26-year-old man living in a nearby condominium.

"There was a loud bang, which woke my whole family up. I wondered if it was a traffic accident, but then thought it strange that there were no ambulance sirens," said a 53-year-old housewife living in the neighborhood.