Japanese Crime Syndicate Boss Pleads Guilty to Nuclear Material Trafficking
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The Facts
Takeshi Ebisawa, the 60-year-old Japanese crime syndicate leader of "yakuza," pleaded guilty on Wednesday in a New York federal court to trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar and other international crimes.
During a 2021 US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) undercover investigation, Ebisawa attempted to sell uranium and weapons-grade plutonium to someone he believed was an Iranian general seeking materials for nuclear weapons.
The criminal operation involved sending photographs of rocky substances with Geiger counters measuring radiation and laboratory analyses showing the presence of thorium and uranium.