Feared Japanese Yakuza gang boss in ‘brazen’ NUCLEAR plot to traffic ‘weapons-grade’ plutonium & surface-to-air missiles
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A FEARED Japanese gang boss was plotting to traffic plutonium nuclear materials and several heavy-duty weapons to be used in wars. Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, has been found guilty of transporting the lethal materials from Myanmar as part of a global web of illegal activity.
![[Man holding a rocket launcher in a warehouse.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/criminal-complaint-u-s-magistrate-962451757.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The feared Yakuza crime leader now faces decades in prison after being charged in February 2024. Ebisawa "brazenly trafficked nuclear material, including weapons-grade plutonium," acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York Edward Y Kim said.
![[Radioactive material sample next to a Geiger counter.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/takeshi-ebisawa-allegedly-sent-undercover-881234204.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
A year later, he also worked to send over massive quantities of drugs to the US, such as heroin and methamphetamine in exchange for weaponry. In a New York court on Wednesday, the Japanese nation pled guilty to conspiring with a network of associates to traffic the nuclear materials out of Myanmar.
![[Men with full-body traditional Japanese Irezumi tattoos at the Sanja Matsuri festival.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/related-yakuza-annual-sanja-matsuri-676377421.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
He also admitted to international narcotics trafficking and weapons charges. The plan was uncovered by a daring Drug Enformacement Administration (DEA) investigation in 2021. Ebisawa tried to sell the materials to someone he believed was an Iranian general who wanted them for a nuclear weapons program, the department said in a statement.
During the operation, Ebisawa unknowingly introduced an undercover US DEA agent to his "international network of criminal associates". This spanned Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the US, court documents reveal. From this DEA agent, the guilty conspired to buy US-made surface-to-air missiles and other heavy-duty weaponry in exchange, in part, for drugs.
