What do a South Korean drug ring and a Japanese robbery syndicate have in common? They were both allegedly run from Philippine prison cells
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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 2026Updated: 12:34pm, 11 May 2026
The 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.
That was the conclusion law enforcement officials in South Korea and Japan reached after tracing a string of drug deals, home invasions and brazen robberies to inmates already serving time in the Philippines.The cases exposed a darkly inventive new chapter in Southeast Asia’s troubling rise as a source of global cybercrime – one in which incarceration, for the resourceful criminal, has become little more than a minor administrative inconvenience.Advertisement
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.
Armed with encrypted messaging apps like Telegram and anonymous social media accounts, this new kind of tech-savvy criminal was able to rake in millions of US dollars from an ever-evolving series of illegal enterprises, even while behind bars.A security officer looks on as newly released inmates exit New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, the Philippines, on February 28, 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE
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