A man who federal prosecutors say ran a notorious Japanese organized crime ring pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to smuggle nuclear material to Iran and U.S. weapons left in Afghanistan to Burma.
Takeshi Ebisawa, the 60-year-old alleged leader of the Japanese Yakuza gang, has pleaded guilty in the case. Manhattan Federal Court US authorities were accused on Wednesday of conspiring with a network of partners to smuggle nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma to other countries. The Department of Justice announced that he also pleaded guilty to international drug and weapons trafficking charges.
Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Y. Kim for the Southern District of New York said Ebisawa admitted that he “brazenly smuggled nuclear material, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma,” while simultaneously “transporting massive amounts of material.” “Nuclear.” Heroin and methamphetamine to the United States in exchange for heavy weapons such as surface-to-air missiles for use on the battlefields of Burma and to launder what he had. He thinks it's drug money From New York to Tokyo.”
Takeshi Ebisawa pleaded guilty to an international criminal operation. (Southern District of New York)
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been investigating Ebisawa since at least 2019, according to court documents and evidence submitted to the court.
During the investigation, federal prosecutors say Ebisawa inadvertently introduced an undercover DEA agent who was posing as a drug and weapons trafficker to his international network of criminal associates, which extended to Japan, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka and the United States. Among other places, “for the purpose of arranging large-scale drug and arms deals.”
The superseding indictment alleges that Ebisawa and his network, including his co-defendants, negotiated numerous drug and weapons deals with that undercover agent.
Ebisawa conspired to broker the purchase of US-made surface-to-air missiles, as well as other heavy weapons, intended for “multiple ethnic armed groups in Burma,” including the unidentified leader of an “ethnic insurgent group,” according to the Times of India website. to Federal prosecutors. He also allegedly negotiated a deal to accept large amounts of heroin and methamphetamine to distribute as partial payment for the weapons.
“Ebisawa learned that the weapons were manufactured in the United States and taken from there,” he added US military bases in Afghanistan“Ebisawa planned to distribute heroin and methamphetamine in the New York market,” the Justice Department said.
In a separate deal, he also allegedly conspired to sell 500 kilograms of methamphetamine and 500 kilograms of heroin to the undercover agent for distribution in New York, prosecutors say.
Ebisawa was also accused of working to launder $100,000 in alleged drug proceeds from the United States to Japan.
Beginning in early 2020, court documents say, Ebisawa informed an undercover agent and a confidential DEA source that he had access to a large amount of nuclear material he wanted to sell.
Later that year, Ebisawa allegedly sent the undercover agent a series of photos “showing rock materials fitted with Geiger counters to measure radiation,” as well as alleged laboratory analyzes indicating the presence of thorium and uranium, court documents say. At Ebisawa's urging, the undercover agent agreed to help him broker the sale of his nuclear materials to an associate who was posing as an Iranian general for use in a nuclear weapons program, according to the Justice Department.
Prosecutors say Ebisawa then offered to supply the alleged Iranian general with “plutonium,” which would be “better” and “stronger” than uranium for this purpose.
Ebisawa and two other co-conspirators allegedly suggested to the undercover agent that the leader of the Burmese rebel group sell uranium to the supposed Iranian general, through Ebisawa, to finance the group's weapons purchases.
In a video call on February 4, 2022, one of Ebisawa's co-conspirators allegedly told an undercover DEA agent and leader of a rebel group in Burma that he had more than 2,000 kilograms of thorium-232 and more than 100 kilograms of uranium in the area. U3O8 – A uranium compound commonly found in uranium concentrate powder known as “yellowcake,” according to court documents.
Nuclear samples described as “yellowcake” were confiscated with the help of Thai authorities. (Southern District of New York)
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He allegedly claimed he could produce up to five tons of nuclear material in Burma. Prosecutors say they held several meetings in Southeast Asia to discuss their ongoing dealings.
During one such meeting, one of Ebisawa's co-conspirators showed the undercover agent in a hotel room in Thailand two plastic containers each containing a yellow, powdery substance that he described as nuclear samples of “yellowcake.”
He allegedly said that one container contained a sample of uranium in the compound U3O8, while the other container contained thorium-232.
The samples were confiscated with the assistance of Thai authorities and subsequently transferred to the custody of US law enforcement authorities.
The US Nuclear Forensics Laboratory examined the samples and determined that both samples contained detectable amounts of uranium, thorium and plutonium, the Justice Department said. “In particular, the laboratory determined that the isotopic composition of the plutonium found in the nuclear samples is weapons-grade, meaning that the plutonium, if produced in sufficient quantities, would be suitable for use in a nuclear weapon,” prosecutors added.
The alternative indictment included photos of the seized nuclear samples. (Southern District of New York)
Ebisawa had been imprisoned in Brooklyn since his arrest in April 2022 during a DEA sting operation that resulted in international drug and weapons charges. An alternative indictment was filed against him last February.
Ebisawa pleaded guilty on Wednesday to six charges. The two counts of drug importation conspiracy carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison. Other charges to which he admitted were conspiracy to commit international trafficking in nuclear materials, conspiracy to possess firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices, and money laundering.
Ebisawa's guilty plea “should serve as a stark reminder to those who put our national security at risk by smuggling weapons-grade plutonium and other dangerous materials on behalf of organized criminal syndicates that the Department of Justice will hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Gee said: Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division in a statement.
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The investigation into Ebisawa and his associates “revealed the horrific depths of international organized crime ranging from smuggling nuclear materials to fueling the drug trade and arming violent insurgents,” DEA Director Anne Milgram said.
