Japanese Yakuza leader pleads guilty to trafficking nuclear materials

Washington — The leader of a Japanese crime syndicate who was charged by US authorities with trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar has pleaded guilty, the US justice department said in a statement.

Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, of Japan, pleaded guilty in Manhattan, New York, on Wednesday to conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Myanmar to other countries, the justice department said.

Ebisawa also pleaded guilty to international narcotics trafficking and weapons charges, the department added.

In February 2024, US authorities charged the Japanese “yakuza” crime leader with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials from Myanmar for expected use by Iran in nuclear weapons.

He was also previously charged in 2022 with international narcotics trafficking and firearms offences.

“As he admitted in federal court today, Takeshi Ebisawa brazenly trafficked nuclear material, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma (Myanmar),” said acting US attorney Edward Kim for the Southern District of New York.

“At the same time, he worked to send massive quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to the US in exchange for heavy-duty weaponry such as surface-to-air missiles, to be used on battlefields in Burma, and laundered what he believed to be drug money from New York to Tokyo.”

Ebisawa’s plot was detected and stopped through co-operation between authorities in the US, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand.

Reuters