BEIJING, Sept. 23 -- Chinese police handed over a wanted drug dealer to Japanese police on Tuesday, said the Ministry of Public Security here.

The Japanese man named Ryuji Hasegawa, aged 46, was detained for illegal staying in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in August, said a ministry statement.

Chinese police returned Hasegawa following a Japanese police request through Interpol, the statement said.

Hasegawa is a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest and most prominent group within the Japanese Yakuza crime syndicate, and has a criminal record including robbery, murder and drugs in Japan, the statement said.

According to the Japanese police, Hasegawa instructed another Japanese citizen to smuggle 15,000 meth pills out of Shanghai to Japan in 2007.

He was arrested in China in May 2008 with five other Japanese nationals and sentenced to two years in prison for harboring drug use by a court in southeastern Chinese city of Fuzhou, according to the ministry.

Hasegawa was handed over to five Japanese police officers at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and boarded a flight to Japan afterwards, the statement said.

China would like to enhance cooperation with neighboring countries in fighting drug trafficking and keeping overseas drug syndicates from China, the ministry statement said.

Chinese police will keep a close eye on Japanese nationals involved in drug dealing, the statement added.