The number of members and associate members of yakuza crime syndicates investigated by police in 2022 fell below 10,000 for the first time since the anti-organized crime law was enacted in 1991, police data showed Thursday.

Nine shootings were reported in the year resulting in four deaths, the National Police Agency said, including that of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who was gunned down during an election campaign speech in Nara last July by a man with a grudge against the Unification Church.

A total of 321 handguns were confiscated by police in 2022, up 26 from the year before, including that used by the alleged assailant in the Abe shooting, Tetsuya Yamagami. Police have not disclosed the number of weapons possessed by Yamagami due to forthcoming trial proceedings.

Police investigated 9,903 members and associate members of yakuza crime syndicates in 2022, down 1,832 from the previous year, amid an intensified crackdown on organized crime, the data showed.

The total number of individuals linked to yakuza groups stood at around 22,400 as of the end of 2022, down around 1,700 from a year earlier and marking a record low, according to the data.

Of the investigations, 2,141 were related to a suspected violation of the stimulants control law, 1,424 to alleged fraud and 1,142 to bodily injury.

The police remain on alert amid an ongoing feud between rival groups that emerged following a split in the Yamaguchi-gumi, one of Japan's largest yakuza organizations, in August 2015.

A total of seven incidents occurred in 2022 that were believed to be linked to strife between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Ikeda-gumi.

The data also showed that police investigated 9,548 foreign nationals in Japan, down 1,129 from the previous year amid travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Around 60 percent of the foreign nationals were from Vietnam and China.

A total of 5,342 people were investigated in connection with cannabis, down 140 from a record high the year before, the data showed.