The leader of a Yakuza Japanese crime syndicate who was charged by US officials with trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar has admitted guilt, the US Justice Department has said in a statement.
Takeshi Ebisawa pleaded guilty "to conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium" from Myanmar to other countries, the department said Wednesday. Ebisawa also admitted guilt in charges of international narcotics trafficking and weapons offenses, it said.
In February 2024, US authorities charged Ebisawa, 60, with trafficking uranium and weapons-grade plutonium from the southeast Asian country of Myanmar to other countries.
In 2022, he was also charged with international narcotics trafficking and firearms offenses.
"As he admitted in federal court today, Takeshi Ebisawa brazenly trafficked nuclear material, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma (Myanmar)," said Edward Y. Kim, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York.
"At the same time, he worked to send massive quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States 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," Kim added.
