A FEARED Japanese gang boss was plotting to traffic plutonium nuclear materials and various heavy weapons to be used in wars.
Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, has been found guilty of transporting lethal materials from Myanmar as part of a global network of illegal activities.
The feared criminal leader of the Yakuza now faces decades in prison after being charged in February 2024.
Ebisawa “brazenly trafficked in nuclear materials, including weapons-grade plutonium,” said Acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Edward Y Kim.
A year later, he also worked to ship massive quantities of drugs to the United States, such as heroin and methamphetamine, in exchange for weapons.
in a New York In court on Wednesday, the Japanese nation pleaded guilty to conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials out of Myanmar.
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He also admitted to international narcotics and weapons trafficking charges.
The scheme was uncovered by a bold investigation by the Drug Administration (DEA) in 2021.
Ebisawa attempted to sell the materials to someone he believed was an Iranian general who wanted them for a nuclear weapons program, the department said in a statement.
During the operation, Ebisawa unknowingly introduced an undercover American DEA agent into his “international purple of criminal associates.”
This covered Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the United States. court the documents reveal.
From this DEA agent, the culprits conspired to buy American-made surface-to-air missiles and other heavy weapons in exchange, in part, for drugs.
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It was also noted that he repeatedly tried to sell the agent 500 kg of methamphetamine and heroin for New York distribution.
Ebisawa initiated contact in early 2020 and told the undercover agent that he had access to a “large amount of nuclear materials” that he wanted to sell. court the papers said.
Prosecutors said the nuclear material came from an unidentified leader of an “ethnic insurgent group” in Myanmar.
The attempted smuggler sent photographs of the substance with Geiger counters measuring the radiation.
These images were accompanied by pages of what he claimed were laboratory analyzes demonstrating the radioactivity of the material.
The agent accepted the deal and Ebisawa’s plan finally fell apart when he was arrested in an operation involving American, Indonesian, Japanese and Thai authorities.
His sentencing is set for April 9.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been embroiled in a civil war since February 2021, when the Southeast Asian nation’s military overthrew the democratically elected government.
The country has a large amount of rare earth materials vital for civil and military technology, including uranium.
This has turned Myanmar into a critical point for transnational companies. crime.
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