Two men suspected of orchestrating a series of robberies across Japan have arrived in the country to face separate fraud charges. They were extradited from the Philippines.

Fujita Toshiya and Imamura Kiyoto were arrested mid-flight from Manila to Japan.

They were transferred to a police station in Tokyo on Tuesday evening.

They had been held at an immigration facility in the Philippines along with another pair of Japanese nationals whom they allegedly coordinated crimes with.

One of them is Watanabe Yuki. Police say he is believed to be the mastermind behind scams targeting people in Japan.

He and Kojima Tomonobu were also facing unrelated criminal charges in the Philippines.

But the country's justice department told media those cases have been dismissed.

The Philippine government has decided to send the men back to Japan on a plane that leaves Wednesday night.

The four suspects are facing charges for allegedly running telephone scams.

But they are also suspected of organizing the string of robberies across 14 Japanese prefectures. That includes a break-in that left a 90-year-old woman in Tokyo dead.