A Japanese mafia boss arrested in the United States has pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport nuclear materials to Iran

The alleged leader of a Japan-based criminal gang pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he allegedly conspired to smuggle uranium and plutonium from Myanmar in the belief that Iran would use them to make nuclear weapons.

Takeshi Ebisawa, 60 years old, from Japan. I entered the call in Manhattan federal court on gun and drug trafficking charges that carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and the possibility of life behind bars. Sentencing is scheduled for April 9.

Prosecutors say Little did Ebisawa know that in 2021 and 2022 he was communicating with a confidential DEA source along with the source’s assistant who posed as an Iranian general. Ebisawa was arrested in April 2022 in Manhattan during a DEA operation.

DEA Director Anne Milgram said in a statement that the prosecution demonstrated the DEA’s “unparalleled ability to dismantle the world’s most dangerous criminal networks.”

She said the investigation “revealed the horrific depths of international organized crime, ranging from the smuggling of nuclear materials to fueling the drug trade and arming violent insurgents.”

Acting US Attorney Edward Y. Kim N. Ebisawa admitted in his confession that he “brazenly smuggled nuclear materials, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma.”

He added, “At the same time, he worked to send huge quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States in exchange for heavy weapons such as surface-to-air missiles for use on the battlefields in Burma.”

Ebisawa – who US prosecutors say is a notorious Japanese leader, court papers said Yakuza Mafia – The confidential source told the DEA in 2020 that he had access to a large amount of nuclear material that he wanted to sell. To support his claim, he sent the source photos showing rock material fitted with a Geiger counter to measure radiation, claiming it contained thorium and uranium, the newspapers said.

Prosecutors said the nuclear material came from an unidentified leader of an “ethnic rebel group” in Myanmar who was mining uranium in the country. Ebisawa had suggested that the leader sell uranium through him to finance the purchase of weapons from the general, court documents allege.

Prosecutors said samples of the alleged nuclear material were obtained, and a US federal laboratory found they contained uranium, thorium and plutonium, and that the “isotopic composition of the plutonium” was weapons-grade, meaning a sufficient amount of it would be suitable for use in nuclear weapons. . Nuclear weapon.

last year, Prosecutors released the photos For alleged nuclear material allegedly sent by Ebisawa.

Prosecutors also allege that Ebisawa conspired to sell 500 kilograms of methamphetamine and 500 kilograms of heroin to an undercover agent for distribution in New York. He also allegedly laundered $100,000 in alleged drug proceeds from the United States to Japan.

“As he admitted in federal court today, Takeshi Ebisawa brazenly smuggled nuclear materials, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma,” said Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Edward Y. Kim. “At the same time, he funneled massive amounts of 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 laundered what he believed were drugs.” Money from New York to Tokyo.”

An email seeking comment was sent to Ebisawa’s attorney.

Yakuza membership The number fell to 20,400 in 2023, a third of what it was two decades ago, according to the National Police Agency. She attributed this decline largely to legislation passed to combat organized crime, which includes measures such as preventing members of designated groups from opening bank accounts, renting apartments, or purchasing mobile phones or insurance.