22-2-2024 (NEW YORK) US authorities announced on Wednesday that they had filed charges against a member of the Japanese yakuza criminal underworld, accusing him of dealing with nuclear material sourced from Myanmar and attempting to sell it to finance an illicit arms deal.
In a Manhattan court, a superseding indictment was unsealed, revealing that yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa and co-defendant Somphop Singhasiri had initially faced charges in April 2022 related to drug trafficking and firearms offenses. Both individuals were remanded in custody.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division stated, “The defendant stands accused of conspiring to sell weapons-grade nuclear material and lethal narcotics from Burma (Myanmar), and to purchase military weaponry on behalf of an armed insurgent group.”
Olsen expressed the chilling potential consequences if these efforts had succeeded, emphasizing the Justice Department’s commitment to holding those accountable who engage in trafficking such materials, posing threats to US national security and international stability.
The arms deal outlined in the indictment included military weaponry like surface-to-air missiles. Prosecutors allege that Ebisawa boldly transported material containing uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, along with drugs, from Myanmar.
Starting in 2020, Ebisawa reportedly informed an undercover officer of his access to substantial quantities of nuclear materials available for sale. He provided photographs of the materials alongside Geiger counters registering radiation during a sting operation involving undercover agents.
With the assistance of Thai authorities, US investigators seized two powdery yellow substances, referred to by the defendant as “yellowcake.” According to the Justice Department, laboratory analysis determined that the plutonium found in the Nuclear Samples was weapons-grade.
One of Ebisawa’s associates claimed to have more than 2,000kg of Thorium-232 and over 100kg of uranium in the compound U3O8, commonly found in uranium concentrate powder known as yellowcake.
The indictment suggests that Ebisawa proposed using the proceeds from the sale of nuclear material to fund weapons purchases for an unnamed ethnic insurgent group in Myanmar.
Ebisawa potentially faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison for seeking to acquire surface-to-air missiles and up to 20 years imprisonment for internationally trafficking nuclear materials.
Prosecutors characterize Ebisawa as a “leader of the Yakuza organized crime syndicate, a highly organized, transnational Japanese criminal network operating worldwide, with criminal activities including large-scale narcotics and weapons trafficking.”
