2024-02-22 13:39:00
Japanese Yakuza boss Takeshi Ebisawa (60), who was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of trafficking nuclear materials, holds a rocket cannon at a warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, in February 2021. / Reuters Yonhap News
The leader of the Japanese violent organization Yakuza was caught by U.S. judicial authorities while trying to traffic in uranium and plutonium, raw materials for nuclear weapons, and was put on trial. It is known that violent organizations from various countries, such as the Mafia (United States, Italy), Triads (China), and Cartels (Central and South America), have been operating across borders for a long time 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 U.S. Department of Justice announced on the 21st that it had indicted Takeshi Ebisawa (60), the leader of an international yakuza organization, and his assistants 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 return obtain cutting-edge weapons, such as surface-to-air missiles, to be provided to Myanmar rebels. He is accused of attempting. They showed various ‘physical evidence’ to their traders, such as rock-shaped materials and photographs of measuring instruments showing radioactivity levels, emphasizing that they were actually securing nuclear weapons raw materials. After secretly meeting with 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 U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). They were caught in a trap investigation. To a business associate who acted as if he were 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. U.S. 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 actual raw materials used to manufacture nuclear weapons.
Matthew Olson, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said, “It’s horrifying to even imagine what the consequences would have been if they had succeeded.” It was found that Ebisawa also attempted to smuggle drugs in connection with nuclear weapons raw materials and weapons, and attempted 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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