Alleged Yakuza leader admits trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a man, allegedly a leader of the Japanese Yakuza gang "Yamaguchi-gumi," has pleaded guilty to smuggling nuclear materials from Myanmar as part of a global network dealing in drugs, weapons, and money laundering. In a 2021 undercover operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the man, named Takeshi Ebisawa, attempted to sell nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, to someone he believed was an Iranian general who claimed to need them for a nuclear weapons program.

The 60-year-old Japanese man admitted in a New York court on Wednesday that he conspired with a network of associates to smuggle nuclear materials out of Myanmar. He also pleaded guilty to international drug trafficking and weapons charges. According to the indictment, in 2021, Ebisawa told an undercover DEA agent that a leader of an unnamed rebel group in Myanmar (formerly Burma) could sell nuclear materials through Ebisawa to the fictitious Iranian general to finance large-scale weapons purchases.

A year later, U.S. authorities arrested Ebisawa, charging him with plotting to distribute drugs in the U.S. and purchase U.S.-made surface-to-air missiles. He was also charged early last year in connection with the alleged Iran deal. Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Edward Y. Kim, stated, "As he admitted in court today, Ebisawa brazenly trafficked nuclear materials, including weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma."

Prosecutor Kim also noted, "At the same time, he worked to ship large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States in exchange for heavy weapons, such as surface-to-air missiles, that would be used in Burma, and to launder what he believed were drug proceeds from New York to Tokyo." CNN has contacted Ebisawa's lawyer for comment on the case. Myanmar has been embroiled in civil war since the military overthrew the elected government in the Southeast Asian nation in February 2021. The country is rich in natural resources, such as rare earth metals and other materials crucial for civilian and military technology, including uranium. It remains a major producer of narcotics and has long been a magnet for transnational crime.

According to the indictment, in dealings with the undercover DEA agent, Ebisawa sent pictures “depicting rock-like substances with Geiger counter measurements of radiation,” along with pages of what Ebisawa called laboratory analysis, “indicating the presence of the radioactive elements thorium and uranium.” The Justice Department stated that Ebisawa “unwittingly introduced an undercover DEA agent posing as a narcotics and weapons trafficker to Ebisawa’s international criminal network of associates spanning Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the United States, for the purpose of arranging large-scale narcotics and weapons transactions.”

International trafficking of nuclear materials carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to the Justice Department, which described Ebisawa as a leader of the notorious Japanese crime family network, "Yamaguchi-gumi." DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said, "This case demonstrates the DEA's unparalleled ability to dismantle the world’s largest criminal networks." Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said, "Today’s guilty plea should send a message to those who traffic in weapons-grade plutonium and other dangerous materials on behalf of organized crime groups, thereby endangering our national security, that the Justice Department will hold you fully accountable under the law."