Japanese yakuza leader pleads guilty to smuggling nuclear materials

The leader of a Japanese crime syndicate pleaded guilty in the US on January 8 to charges of illegally trafficking nuclear materials.

Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, pleaded guilty in a New York City court to conspiring to build a criminal network to smuggle nuclear material - including weapons-grade uranium and plutonium - from Myanmar to other countries. The US Justice Department said Ebisawa also pleaded guilty to international drug trafficking and weapons charges, Reuters reported.

Takeshi Ebisawa holds a rocket launcher at a warehouse in Denmark in 2021

Ebisawa was charged in February 2024 with conspiring to traffic nuclear material from Myanmar, potentially for use in Iran to make nuclear weapons. In 2022, he was charged with international drug trafficking and weapons-related offenses. US justice officials said Ebisawa shipped large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States in exchange for heavy weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, for use in the war in Myanmar.

Since 2020, Ebisawa has boasted to an undercover police officer that he had access to large quantities of nuclear materials that he wanted to sell, and provided photographs of the said materials.

Ebisawa's plot was uncovered and thwarted through cooperation between authorities in the United States, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand. In a sting operation involving undercover agents, Thai authorities assisted US investigators in seizing two yellow powders that the defendant described as "yellowcakes."

After the forensic examination, US officials discovered plutonium isotopes that, if available in sufficient quantities, could be used for nuclear weapons. One of Ebisawa's co- defendants claimed that they had "more than 2,000 kg of thorium-232 and more than 100 kg of uranium in the compound U3O8 - a uranium compound commonly found in a concentrated powder known as "yellowcake".

US prosecutors described Ebisawa as "a leader of the yakuza criminal organization, a highly organized Japanese transnational criminal network that operates around the world , often involving large-scale drug and weapons trafficking." Ebisawa could face up to 20 years in prison for smuggling nuclear materials.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thu-linh-yakuza-nhat-ban-nhan-toi-buon-lau-vat-lieu-hat-nhan-185250109082621409.htm