In the days following the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, the absence of looters in the disaster-ravaged areas was viewed with amazement by the rest of the world.
In the days following the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, the absence of looters in the disaster-ravaged areas was viewed with amazement by the rest of the world.
However, more than four months after the quake and tsunami ravaged northeast Japan, investigations have begun into allegations that unscrupulous individuals have been exporting affected vehicles--some stolen even from the municipal parking lots where they were temporarily stored.
In quake-hit Higashi-Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, where most houses were wiped out by huge waves, three men, including two Afghanis, were seen loading a large truck with small cars at the end of June.
When asked, they said someone else had bought the cars from the owners to sell them abroad. They said they didn't know which country the cars would be shipped to.
In Ishinomaki in the same prefecture, an Asahi Shimbun reporter saw two non-Japanese remove cars that were parked in a residential area last month. A woman living in the neighborhood said she was too scared to go out at night.
Similar incidents have been reported all across the disaster-affected areas. In Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, a Sri Lankan man was arrested in May on suspicion of violating immigration laws after he allegedly attempted to steal cars.
According to the Miyagi prefectural police, about 100 stolen vehicles have been reported stolen since January, double the number of previous years. However, the owners are dealing with many other quake-related problems and have less inclination to insist the thieves be found, police said.
Police, however, say it is still a crime, and therefore efforts must be made to find the culprits and identify the smuggling routes.
According to a Japanese used-car dealer, a typical method of transporting stolen cars overseas involves replacing the vehicle identification numbers with those of vehicles that were legitimately purchased. Smugglers also break down the cars into major parts, such as engines, and ship those overseas, sources said. To export used cars, owners are required to submit export-related documents to customs, which are not needed to export parts. When the parts reach their destination countries, the cars will be reassembled using the parts, sources said.
The National Police Agency has identified about 1,400 known chop shops, where cars are dismantled, in Japan. Police began searching for them last June after suspicions arose that they had become a relay point for smuggling stolen goods.
A 35-year-old Brazilian man who came out of a chop shop based north of the Kanto region--located close to a main transportation artery and equipped with 3-meter-high steel walls--admitted that he disassembled vehicles and sold their parts to a Dubai-based used car firm. He said he did not know whether the cars had been stolen.
In the meantime, larger numbers of cars affected by the quake have been traded in Japan's used car market. Many were sold to foreign companies.
In disaster-hit areas, survivors have been startled to find notes attached to their cars saying, "We will help you with the car removal process free of charge" and "We buy average size cars for 2,000 yen (about $26)."
A 40-year-old car dealer in Ishinomaki, who has provided free parking space for about 200 affected vehicles, said that with the owners' consent he sold about 20 vehicles to foreign car traders for between 100,000 yen to 500,000 yen per vehicle. Companies from Russia, Pakistan and Bangladesh visited his office, he said.
A trading company in the same city run by a Pakistani man has exported about 20 affected cars to Dubai, Africa and Russia, according to the president. The man said that since the cars had been flooded with seawater, he had to wash them. But otherwise, the cars should still sell well after being repaired in the destination countries, where labor costs are much lower, he said.
Toyota vehicles are especially popular, as the automaker has dealerships worldwide, allowing for easier access to replacement parts.
Tsunami-affected cars that cost 3 million yen new can be had for 50,000 yen to 100,000 yen. Although transportation and repairs add about 500,000 yen, the cars can be sold for more than 1 million yen, creating profit margins of 200,000 yen to 300,000 yen. It's a great business, a trader said.
Affected cars have also been auctioned off online in the domestic used-car market. On one popular site recently, about 70 units were up for sale, with a Toyota Prius going for more than 500,000 yen.
The Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association, comprising 200 member companies, is concerned about quality, said Yutaka Shiota, association managing director. The tsunami-soaked vehicles are vulnerable to significant rust, which could dent customer confidence in used Japanese cars.
However, since there are no laws against exporting the soaked cars, the association has no way to stop the process, Shiota said.
(This article was written by Ryuichi Yamashita and Nobuyoshi Nakamura.)