Japanese Yakuza boss Takeshi Ebisawa (60), indicted by the US Department of Justice on charges of trafficking nuclear materials, holds a rocket cannon in a warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, in February 2021. / Reuters Yonhap News
The leader of the violent Japanese Yakuza organization was caught by US judicial authorities trying to trade in uranium and plutonium, raw materials for nuclear weapons, and was put on trial. It is known that violent organizations from different countries, such as the Mafia (United States, Italy), Triads (China), and Cartels (Central and South America), have long been operating across borders and trafficking drugs and weapons, and even nuclear materials are included in their trafficking list The circumstances of its inclusion have actually been confirmed.
The US Department of Justice announced on the 21st that it has charged Takeshi Ebisawa (60), the leader of the international Yakuza organization, and his accomplices on these charges. According to the indictment released by the Ministry of Justice, since early 2020, Ebisawa and his co-conspirators have been conducting transactions to sell uranium, plutonium, and thorium, radioactive materials used as raw materials for nuclear weapons, and in exchange for being cut-. edge weapons, such as surface-to-air missiles, to be provided to Myanmar rebels. He is accused of trying. Their traffickers were shown various ‘physical evidence’, such as rock-shaped materials and photographs of measuring equipment showing radiation levels, emphasizing that they were in fact protecting the raw materials of nuclear weapons. After secretly meeting a business partner in a hotel room, he also showed samples he had in hand.
However, among the dealers they contacted was an informant from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). They were caught in a trap investigation. To a business associate who acted as a key associate of an Iranian military general, he suggested that he could sell not only uranium but also more powerful plutonium for use in making nuclear weapons. US federal prosecutors and the DEA arrested Ebisawa and others through judicial cooperation with Japan and Thailand. As a result of analyzing the samples they had, it was confirmed that they were genuine raw materials used to produce nuclear weapons.
Matthew Olson, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said, “It’s terrifying to even imagine what the consequences would have been if they had succeeded.” Ebisawa was also found to be trying to smuggle drugs in connection with nuclear weapons and raw materials, and trying to keep some of the weapons for himself. He was charged with eight counts, including smuggling nuclear materials, international human trafficking, and money laundering. Five of these charges carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
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