The US Justice Department on Wednesday charged Takeshi Ebisawa, a leader of the Yakuza – the Japanese mafia, with the alleged attempt to transport nuclear materials, including uranium and plutonium, from Burma to other countries such as Iran, which would use it for its weapons program.
“The defendant brazenly smuggled material containing weapons-grade uranium and plutonium from Burma to other countries. He did this while believing the material would be used to develop a nuclear weapons program and while simultaneously negotiating the purchase of lethal weapons. “The seriousness of this conduct cannot be overstated,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams.
For her part, the Director of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Anne Milgram, They claimed to trade in “drugs, weapons and nuclear materials” and even offered uranium and plutonium “with the full expectation that Iran would use it to produce nuclear weapons.”
“This is an extraordinary example of the depravity of drug traffickers who act with complete disregard for human life,” Milgram added, referring to Ebisawa, 60, and his co-defendant, Somphop Singhasiri, 61. In April 2022, they already were They have been charged with international drug trafficking and firearms crimes and now face a sentence of between ten years and life in prison.
Prosecutors allege Ebisawa tipped off a confidential DEA source about his access to “a large amount of nuclear material that he wanted to sell,” and after a series of calls, agency staff managed to meet him in Southeast Asia, where he showed off a number of nuclear samples.
Afterwards, the DEA, working with the Thai authorities, seized the samples and sent them to the US police, who, after analysis, determined that the contents were “weapon-friendly” even for use in nuclear weapons.
dmr