Washington According to a Justice Department statement, the head of a Japanese criminal organization who was accused by American officials of smuggling nuclear materials from Myanmar entered a guilty plea on Wednesday.
According to the Justice Department, Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, of Japan, entered a guilty plea in Manhattan to scheming with a group of friends to transport nuclear materials, such as uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Myanmar to other nations. According to the department, Ebisawa also entered a guilty plea to counts of international drug trafficking and firearms trafficking.
The Japanese yakuza mafia lord was accused by U.S. authorities in February 2024 of plotting to trade nuclear materials from Myanmar for Iran’s anticipated use in nuclear weapons.
Additionally, he was earlier accused in 2022 with offenses related to guns and international drug trafficking.
According to Edward Kim, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Takeshi Ebisawa blatantly trafficked nuclear material, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma (Myanmar), as he acknowledged in federal court today.
He also laundered what he thought was drug money from New York to Tokyo and attempted to deliver large amounts of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States in return for heavy-duty weapons like surface-to-air missiles to be deployed on Burmese battlefields.
Through collaboration between U.S., Indonesian, Japanese, and Thai officials, Ebisawa’s scheme was discovered and foiled.
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