Philippine officials are trying to clear the way for the extradition together of four Japanese men to Japan next week. Japanese police suspect the men are linked to a series of robberies in Japan that left one person dead.

The four men are being held at an immigration facility in Manila. Trial procedures are under way for two of them, accused of committing violence against women. The two men cannot be extradited unless the court dismisses their cases. Officials suspect the men may have asked the women to bring criminal charges against them so they would not be deported.

The next court hearings were scheduled for Tuesday of next week. But a Justice Department spokesperson said on Friday that the schedule has been moved up to Monday.

Department officials plan to hold a meeting of relevant agencies on that day to decide when the men can be extradited.

They say they hope the charges will be dismissed so the four men can be deported together by Wednesday, when President Marcos Jr. is due to visit Japan.

Japanese police suspect the Japanese men of orchestrating a recent string of robberies in Japan. The criminal ring allegedly recruited people through social media, and provided instructions through chat apps using aliases like Luffy or Kim.