A yakuza leader pleaded guilty this Wednesday, January 9, in New York federal court. Prosecuted in a case of trafficking in nuclear material, this trafficker allegedly conspired to smuggle military-grade uranium and plutonium out of Burma.
And member of the Japanese underworld yakuza pleaded guilty Wednesday in New York to trafficking in nuclear material from Burma, which he allegedly sought to resell to finance arms and nuclear trafficking. drugsannounced the American judicial authorities. His sentence will be determined later, prosecutors said.
The case came to the ears of an undercover agent from the American DEA, the agency responsible for the fight against drugs, in early 2020. Undercover, this agent made the yakusa leader, Takeshi Ebisawa, believe that he knew a Iranian buyer, a general, interested in uranium at a degree of enrichment greater than 5% — that is to say not for energy, but to make nuclear bombs.
-A few months later, the yakusa leader offered him 50 tons of excellent quality uranium, thorium and plutonium, for nearly $7 million. Negotiations continue until 2022, until the search of the conspirators’ offices in Bangkok where vials containing nuclear materials were actually found.
Already charged with drug and firearms trafficking
Read more on RFI
