Takeshi Ebisawa admitted to conspiring to traffic uranium and plutonium from Myanmar to Iran, believing it would be used for nuclear weapons. He also admitted to trafficking narcotics and weapons.
Federal prosecutors say the leader of a Japan-based crime syndicate pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges alleging that he conspired to traffic uranium and plutonium from Myanmar in the belief that Iran would use it for nuclear weapons. Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, of Japan, entered the plea in Manhattan federal court to weapons and narcotics trafficking charges that carry a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and the possibility of life behind bars. Sentencing was set for April 9.
Prosecutors say Ebisawa didn’t know he was communicating in 2021 and 2022 with a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration along with the source’s associate, who posed as an Iranian general. Ebisawa was arrested in April 2022 in Manhattan during a DEA sting. DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a release that the prosecution demonstrated the DEA's “unparalleled ability to dismantle the world's most dangerous criminal networks.” She said the investigation “exposed the shocking depths of international organized crime from trafficking nuclear materials to fueling the narcotics trade and arming violent insurgents.” Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Y. Kim said Ebisawa admitted at his plea that he “brazenly trafficked nuclear material, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma.” “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,' he adde
Nuclear Trafficking Crime Syndicate Iran Myanmar DEA
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