Takeshi Ebisawa faces a maximum sentence of life in prison after pleading guilty to six counts in Manhattan court.
A Japanese crime boss has pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell nuclear material from Myanmar to Iran, along with drug and arms smuggling, authorities in the United States said.
Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, a yakuza member, pleaded guilty to six counts in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, the US Justice Department said in a statement.
His sentencing is scheduled for April 9.
According to prosecutors, Ebisawa told an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent and a DEA source in 2020 that he had released a large amount of thorium and uranium that he wanted to sell.
In response to Ebisawa’s repeated inquiries, the undercover agent agreed to help Ebisawa broker the sale of nuclear materials to an associate posing as an Iranian general, prosecutors said.
Ebisawa then offered to supply the secret associate with plutonium that would be even “better” and “more powerful” than uranium to make nuclear weapons, according to prosecutors.
A yellow powdery substance shown to undercover agents by Ebisawa’s co-conspirators was later shown by laboratory analysis to contain measurable amounts of uranium, thorium and plutonium, the Justice Department said.
Ebisawa also conspired to broker the purchase of US-made surface-to-air missiles and heavy weapons to arm multiple ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, and to accept large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine as part payment for the weapons, according to prosecutors.
U.S. officials said they conducted Ebisawa’s arrest and prosecution in cooperation with law enforcement partners in Indonesia, Japan and Thailand.
“Today’s plea should serve as a strong reminder to those who threaten our national security by trafficking weapons-grade plutonium and other dangerous materials on behalf of organized crime syndicates that the Department of Justice will hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G Olsen. from the Department of National Security of the Ministry of Justice.
Ebisawa, previously charged in 2022 with international drug and firearms trafficking, faces a possible life sentence on the most serious charges.
