Alleged Yakuza Boss Pleads Guilty in U.S. to Nuclear Trafficking

New York, Jan. 8 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese national purported to be a leader of a yakuza organized crime syndicate has pleaded guilty to trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar to other countries, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday.

The defendant, Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, has been charged in the United States over allegedly conspiring with antigovernment forces in Myanmar to smuggle nuclear materials, weapons and narcotics. He admitted the charges at a federal court in New York.

According to the department, Ebisawa is a "yakuza leader" who has a criminal network spanning Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka, among other countries. He was arrested in April 2022 after approaching an undercover agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in a bid to acquire U.S.-made surface-to-air missiles for sale to Myanmar's antigovernment forces, in exchange for trafficking nuclear materials and narcotics.

Samples seized from Ebisawa included weapons-grade plutonium. The sentence will be handed down on April 9, with the maximum possible punishment being life in prison.

"DEA remains positioned to relentlessly pursue anyone who threatens our national security," its administrator, Anne Milgram, said in a statement.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]