GANGSTER NABBED FOR SCALPING AKB48 TICKET

FAVOURITE.......Fifteen of the 16 favourite members of AKB48, voted by their fans

A CRIME syndicate member has been arrested on suspicion of scalping a ticket to attend the 'election' of J-pop group AKB48. According to Metropolitan Police Department, a 37-year-old man from Machida in Tokyo, was nabbed on the evening of the polling day when he sold a reserved seat ticket for the event on a street in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.

The Wednesday's event to choose the AKB members to sing on the group’s 27th single took place at Nippon Budokan.

The man allegedly purchased the ticket, which had a retail price of 3,000 yen (RM120), and sold it for 10,000 yen (RM401) to a company employee in his 40s, an act violating the Tokyo metropolitan government ordinance banning scalping.

GIRLS.....From left: Yuki Kashiwagi, Yuko Oshima and Mayu Watanabe

AKB48, a Japanese 64-member girls group, is one of the highest-earning musical acts in the world. It has its own theater and perform there daily.

The members, whose age ranges from 14 to 20-plus, are not allowed to have boyfriends and must be well-behaved. Failing which, they will be expelled from the group.

Since 2009, the group began conducting the yearly "election" for the fans to vote their 16 favourite members. Elected member lineup get to participate in the recording of a single.

Meanwhile, Yuko Oshima, 23, has won in the event with 108,837 votes, followed by 18-year-old Mayu Watanabe (72,574), Yuki Kashiwagi (71,076), Rino Sashihara (67,339), Mariko Shinoda (67,017), Minami Takahashi (65,480) and Haruna Kojima (54,483).

The others are Tomomi Itano (50,483), Jurina Matsui (45,747), Rena Matsui (42,030), Sae Miyazawa (40,261), Tomomi Kasai (27,005), Rie Kitahara (26,531), Minami Minegishi (26,038), Yui Yokoyama (25,541) and Ayaka Umeda (24,522). (Daily Yomiuri Online)