Police have uncovered a ring of 17 men believed to have filmed 10,000 women bathing in hot springs across Japan

Between December 2021 and February, 16 more men were arrested, including a doctor from Tokyo, senior company executives, and local government officials

The Japanese police have arrested 17 men suspected of photographing and filming more than 10,000 women who were bathing in hot springs.

The group’s ringleader, Karin Saito, 50, was arrested in December 2021, per the Yomiuri Shimbun. Saito was nabbed in the Hyogo Prefecture, west of Kyoto, and charged under a nuisance prevention ordinance, a local law against illicit photography, The Asahi Shimbun reported.

Between December 2021 and February, 16 more men were arrested, including a doctor from Tokyo, senior company executives, and local government officials, reported the South China Morning Post. The men were detained by the police in 11 different prefectures, per The Asahi Shimbun.

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Saito has confessed to taking voyeuristic photos of nude women for 30 years in 46 different prefectures, the police told the Yomiuri Shimbun. After being arrested, Saito informed the police about at least a dozen others in his group, reported the SCMP.

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