Takeshi Ebisawa: Alleged Yakuza Leader Admits Smuggling Nuclear Material From Myanmar

CNN
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An alleged leader of Japan’s Yakuza crime syndicates has pleaded guilty to trafficking nuclear material from Myanmar as part of a global drug, arms and money-laundering network, according to the US Department of Justice.

During an undercover investigation by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2021, Takeshi Ebisawa tried to sell the materials – including weapons-grade uranium and plutonium – to someone he believed to be an Iranian general who wanted them for a weapons program nuclear, the department said in a statement.

The 60-year-old Japanese national pleaded guilty in a New York court on Wednesday to conspiring with a network of associates to smuggle nuclear material from Myanmar, the statement said.

He also admitted to being charged with international narcotics and arms trafficking.

In 2021, Ebisawa told an undercover DEA agent that an unnamed leader of an insurgent group in Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma, might sell nuclear material through Ebisawa to the fictitious Iranian general to finance a large purchase of weapons, the indictment states.

A year later, the American authorities arrested Ebisawa on charges of conspiring to distribute drugs in the United States and purchase American-made surface-to-air missiles. At the beginning of last year he was too hit with accusations on the alleged Iranian sale.

“As he admitted in court today, Takeshi Ebisawa eagerly trafficked nuclear materials, including weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma,” said U.S. Attorney Edward Y. Kim for the Southern District of New York.

“At the same time, he worked to ship massive amounts of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States in exchange for heavy weapons such as surface-to-air missiles to be used in Burma and laundered what he believed to be drug money . From New York to Tokyo.”

CNN has reached out to Ebisawa’s lawyers for comment on the case.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been embroiled in a civil war since February 2021, when the Southeast Asian nation’s military ousted its democratically elected government. The country is rich in natural resources such as rare earth metals and other materials vital to civilian and military technology, including uranium. It remains a major producer of narcotics and has long been a magnet for transnational crime.

During his dealings with the undercover DEA agent, Ebisawa sent images “depicting rocky substances with Geiger counters measuring radiation,” according to the indictment, as well as pages of what Ebisawa said were laboratory analyzes “indicating the presence of the elements radioactive thorium and uranium. .”

The Justice Department said Ebisawa “unwittingly introduced an undercover DEA agent … posing as a narcotics and arms trafficker into Ebisawa’s international network of criminal associates, which included, among others, Japan , Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka and the United States. , for the purpose of organizing large-scale narcotics and weapons deals.”

International trafficking of nuclear material carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to the department, which referred to Ebisawa as a leader of the Yakuza, Japan’s infamous crime family network.

“This case demonstrates the DEA’s unparalleled ability to dismantle the world’s largest criminal networks,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.

“Today’s plea should serve as a stark reminder to those who endanger our national security by trafficking weapons-grade plutonium and other dangerous materials on behalf of organized crime syndicates that the Department of Justice will hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

CNN’s Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.