What do a South Korean drug ring and a Japanese robbery syndicate have in common? They were both allegedly run from Philippine prison cells
Asia’s new crime wave is emerging from behind bars
Asia’s new crime wave is emerging from behind barsJonathan VitPublished: 12:25pm, 11 May 2026The 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.
They involved some of Asia’s most notorious criminals: from a South Korean murderer who has inspired gritty action fiction to a faceless syndicate linked to more than a dozen Japanese robberies and a murder.
