Japan to set up FBI-style agency

Japan’s National Police Agency is to set up its own version of the FBI to help deal with the growing globalisation of crime brought about by the Internet, it has been reported.

The new investigative body will probe organised crime, Internet crime and cases that require investigation beyond the nation’s borders, reports said.

At present, all criminal investigations are handled by state police forces, and their activities are mostly restricted to within Japan.

The NPA is Japan’s top police organisation, but it is not staffed with actual investigation personnel.

That would change under the new project, which would staff the NPA with an elite investigative team and allow it to track leads to other countries.

The NPA reported last month that criminal cases in Japan rose to a record high 2,508,983 during the first 11 months of last year from the same period of 2000.

Drug smuggling cases and Internet crimes were on the rise, the agency said.