Yakuza Boss Charged with Trafficking Nuclear Materials from Myanmar
US authorities have charged Takeshi Ebisawa, a senior figure in the Japanese mafia, with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials, alleging that he attempted to sell uranium and plutonium to be transferred to Iran for the construction of a nuclear bomb. Ebisawa, along with a Thai co-defendant, faces life imprisonment if convicted. The US Department of Justice claims that Ebisawa and his associates displayed samples of nuclear materials in Thailand to an undercover DEA agent posing as a weapons and drugs trafficker with ties to an Iranian general. The materials, seized by Thai authorities and confirmed by a US laboratory to contain uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, were allegedly sourced from Myanmar. Additionally, Ebisawa is accused of seeking to acquire military-grade weapons for a rebel group in Myanmar. Both Ebisawa and his co-conspirator are set to be arraigned in a New York federal courtroom.