A man from Japan has been arrested by Philippine officials for allegedly running an illegal manga comic library that was accessed by around 100 million people per month, Agence France-Presse reported.
Twenty-eight-year-old Romi Hoshino allegedly managed “Manga Mura” or Manga village. The site was shut down in April 2018, when the Japanese government started a search for the website’s founder due to several copyright violations.
The pirate website, which has about 100 million followers a month, made about 60,000 manga or Japanese graphic novels or comic books that were made free after publication.
Due to the work of illegal manga sites, Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association said manga publishers lost about 320 billion yen ($2.94 billion) in potential revenues over a six-month period to February 2018.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said in a statement that Hoshino was arrested at the airport on Sunday after the Japanese embassy asked for help in locating him.
“His presence in the country is a risk to public safety and security,” Morente said, adding that Hoshino will likely be deported to Japan.
