The great escape: Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn was smuggled out of Japan in a box

___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn was so desperate to get out of Japan that he allowed himself to be smuggled out of the country in a box that had small airholes drilled into it. That sensational information is contained in the latest instalment in The Wall Street Journal on Ghosn's escape from Japanese "hostage" justice. Why was Ghosn so desperate? As The Seattle Times highlights, the Japanese do not presume innocence until proven guilty. The story of the Nissan boss accused of financial irregularities has highlighted the nightmare of Japan's criminal justice system. The Guardian reports that Interpol has issued a wanted notice for Ghosn, who is unlikely to be arrested in his home country of Lebanon because he has connections at the highest political levels. Those who have helped Ghosn are unlikely to be so fortunate. In Turkey, at least seven people were arrested on Thursday as part of investigations, including four pilots, two ground handling employees and the operations manager of a private cargo company, said the UK-based news organisation. – Jackie Cameron.In Carlos Ghosn's escape, plotters exploited an airport security holeBy Nick Kostov, Mark Maremont and Rory Jones(The Wall Street Journal) – About three months before former auto titan Carlos Ghosn's escape last week from Japan to Lebanon, an operative helping plan his extraction visited Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan, and realised there was a huge security hole, according to a person familiar with the matter.The terminal for private jets was quieter than those at most other airports and essentially empty, unless there was a flight coming in, this person said. What's more, oversize luggage was too big to fit in the airport scanners.The security hole proved crucial in Mr. Ghosn's cinema-worthy escape from Japan, where he was out on bail facing charges of financial crimes. He has denied the charges and has previously said he would fight them in court.Also read: Just like the Guptas, Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn in daring midnight flit from justiceThe escape involved a 300-mile sprint across Japan, from Mr. Ghosn's court-monitored home in Tokyo to the Osaka airport. He was then smuggled inside a large black box, generally used for concert equipment, with breathing holes drilled in the bottom, into a waiting private jet, as previously reported by The Wall Street Journal.The plan brought Mr. Ghosn through Turkey, where he changed planes in a predawn rainstorm, and on to Lebanon, where he holds citizenship. Lebanon doesn't extradite its citizens.On board the plane in Osaka were two US security operatives. One, Michael L. Taylor, is an ex-Green Beret with a history of rescuing hostages.People familiar with Mr. Ghosn's thinking said he made his own, final decision to go through with the plan only late last month, after signs his trial might drag on for years, and amid the court's refusal for him to have contact with his wife during the holidays.But work on a detailed plan to extract Mr. Ghosn started months beforehand, according to people familiar with the matter. The planning involved a team of between 10 and 15 people of different nationalities, one of these people said.Also read: What's jail like for millionaire Carlos Ghosn? – The Wall Street JournalIn all, the team took more than 20 trips to Japan and visited at least 10 Japanese airports before selecting the Osaka airport as a weak link, this person said.A spokesman for the airport's operator said its security is no different from other airports in Japan. He said all luggage too large for X-ray scanning is supposed to be opened by security staff, but an airport-security expert said they don't necessarily do so for private-jet travelers as they are considered a lower terrorism risk. Unlike in the US, where security is handled by the government, in Japan airlines are responsible for security and use private security companies, the expert said.Japanese officials said an investigation was under way to determine how Mr. Ghosn fled. Over the weekend, Japan's justice minister said departure checks would be strengthened.Mr. Ghosn has previously said he arranged his travel to Lebanon on his own, without help from his family.Arrested in November 2018 on charges of financial crimes related to his time leading Nissan Motor, Mr. Ghosn spent months in a small cell in Tokyo undergoing regular interrogation by prosecutors without a lawyer present.Since being released on bail for the second time in April, he has had severe restrictions on contact with his wife and complained bitterly about a Japanese justice system that he felt was stacked against him. Japanese officials defended their system and said he would have received a fair trial.The escape plan cost in the millions of dollars, according to the person familiar with the matter. In similar rescue missions, the exfiltration team typically would be paid expenses and then a hefty reward upon successful completion, security professionals said..The audio-equipment case in which Carlos Ghosn was sneaked onto a private jet at an Osaka, Japan, airport on Dec. 29, according to people familiar with the Turkish probe. The case was found at the back of the cabin by the Istanbul-based plane operator.Also on the private-jet flight from Osaka was George Zayek, a Lebanese-born US citizen who previously worked with Mr. Taylor's Boston-based security company.Mr. Zayek is the brother of Elias Zayek, one of the founders of the Lebanese Forces militia. Elias Zayek was assassinated in 1990 a few months before the end of the Lebanese civil war. George Zayek was injured in fighting in Lebanon in the 1970s, leaving him with a limp, according to some relatives in Lebanon.He left for the U.S. in the early 1980s, according to the relatives, and when his brother was killed he spent more time there, eventually becoming a US citizen. He worked in private security with US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, these relatives said.The 59-year-old Mr. Taylor's former Boston-based security company was hired by the New York Times to help rescue reporter David Rohde from Taliban captivity in Afghanistan in 2009.Also read: You think Old Mutual boss Peter Moyo has had a raw deal? Try Nissan for size!Mr. Taylor recently has told friends he strongly empathised with Mr. Ghosn's legal plight following his own experience with the US criminal-justice system that resulted in prison time.Mr. Taylor was indicted in 2012 in two criminal cases related to a federal bid-rigging investigation into $54m in Defense Department contracts. He disputed the charges, and spent 14 months in a local Utah jail under what he considered harsh conditions while awaiting trial. He eventually pleaded guilty to two counts and spent a total of 19 months behind bars.After learning about Mr. Ghosn's case, Mr. Taylor referred to the embattled auto executive as a "hostage," said one person who knows him.Mr. Taylor has also worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Department to rescue overseas kidnapping victims, and in the late 1980s worked four years undercover helping the US government on a drug and money-laundering investigation, according to a sentencing memo by his attorney in his criminal case.He has strong connections to Lebanon. He was deployed there as a Green Beret in the early 1980s, where he met his wife, and as a private contractor he later trained Lebanese Christian militias, the sentencing memo says. He speaks Arabic.In 2012, Mr. Taylor was in Lebanon working on a classified case with the US Drug Enforcement Administration when he was indicted. He flew back to the US and was arrested on arrival in Utah, where the case was prosecuted."Mr. Taylor was the key player and critical link in one of the most important DEA operations in history," his lawyer wrote in the later sentencing memo. All but a few words about that operation were redacted in that memo.— David Gauthier-Villars and Miho Inada contributed to this article.

The great escape: Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn was smuggled out of Japan in a box

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