BANGKOK>> Police in Thailand have arrested a man believed linked to a Japanese gangster who trafficked women to Japan for prostitution.

Police Maj. Gen. Chavalit Sawangpuech says Jakrapan Watcharapin, 55, was arrested Friday on human trafficking charges involving three Thai women allegedly forced to become sex workers in Japan.

Chavalit said Japanese authorities had rescued the women, all in their early thirties, when they busted a network run by the Japanese mafia. Jakrapan denied his guilt but said his company helped provide visas for the women. He faces a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.

The U.S. State Department’s annual human trafficking report says Japan is a destination, source, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking.