Two suspected yakuza members were arrested for allegedly detaining and force-feeding feces to a Japanese gangland rival in Thailand.

The alleged gangsters, Niki Fuku, 45, and Tomiki Asai, 26, reportedly abducted the victim after he failed to pay the exorbitant 300,000 THB (6,754 GBP) fee they charged him to process his visa at Cambodia's Poipet checkpoint.

The alleged yakuza and a Thai man named Pao were said to have kidnapped the Japanese man. They allegedly kept him in a hotel along Kaset-Nawamin Road in Bangkok, where he claimed they fed him excrement and tortured him for money.

The victim said he managed to call the Japanese Embassy for help when the suspects were not paying attention.

Speaking on November 6, Police Major General Thiradech Thamsuthee, commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau's (MPB) Crime Suppression Division, said the Thai suspect Pao was the first to be arrested. Authorities later tracked down and arrested the two Japanese thugs at a resort in Chonburi province.

Police said they initially could not find the two men, but the scent of marijuana smoke gave their location away. Officers said they followed the scent trail until they found two suspicious rooms next to each other where the yakuza were arrested.

Authorities said they seized from the premises cannabis paraphernalia, several iPhones and iPads, two account books, a Gucci bag, and 179,000 THB in cash.

During questioning, Niki denied involvement in the case. He claimed he had fled on the advice of his lawyer.

He allegedly said: 'I like Thailand very much because when I was in Japan, I was arrested because of marijuana more than four times. So I brought 1 billion yen to settle in Thailand because I wanted to keep using marijuana and Thai people are nice. I currently have marijuana and international transportation businesses.

'I met Mr. Pao from a cannabis shop and decided to invest in various things based on his advice. In total, I gave him 135 million baht but now I'm starting to realise that he probably tricked me.'

MPB boss Police Major General Thiradech said the suspects' actions affected Thailand's image of tourism, describing them as 'audacious, with no fear of the law.'

He said: 'We received information that the two Japanese perpetrators had settled in Thailand and were working as cannabis sellers. They also had a business transporting cannabis to foreign countries, and had hundreds of millions of baht in circulation in their operation. This led us to raise concerns about illegal businesses.'

He added that police were expanding the investigation.

The Japanese suspects were held in police custody.

In April, a Japanese yakuza gangster was found chopped up in a pond in Bangkok.

Ryousuke Kabashima, 47, was allegedly murdered with a bullet to the brain by two fellow Japanese nationals Hiroto Suzuki, 33, and Takuya Kato, 50, in a factory on the outskirts of Bangkok.

He was reportedly dismembered and a Thai driver Kritsakorn Jaipitak, 30, hired by the Japanese men was said to have scattered the body parts around Nonthaburi province. His remains were found after locals found a tattooed severed hand in the pond.

The yakuza is a powerful, organised crime syndicate originating in Japan, involved in activities like gambling, drug trafficking, and protection rackets. Despite their criminal reputation, they maintain a complex relationship with Japanese society, often being known for their strict codes of conduct, loyalty, and sometimes even involvement in community service and disaster relief efforts.

(1 GBP = 44.41 THB)