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Takeshi Ebisawa, an alleged leader of Japan’s Yakuza crime syndicate, was charged Wednesday with trying to sell nuclear material to undercover DEA agents that he believed would eventually reach Iran. Why was it the DEA that caught Ebisawa? The Yakuza leader first tried to sell them drugs and surface-to-air missiles.
The news comes from the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who alleged that Ebisawa began sending photos of “rocky substances” along with Geiger counters that measure radiation to undercover officers in 2020. Ebisawa, 60, also showed samples. According to US prosecutors, the nuclear material was supplied to an agent who was posing as a major arms and drug trafficker in Thailand.
Undercover agents led Ebisawa to believe that he was working as a middleman for an Iranian general for use in the nuclear weapons program. Iran has long been working on nuclear weapons, although the program was briefly halted in 2015 and 2016 due to negotiations by former President Barack Obama. But Trump dropped out of international agreement in 2018Which allowed Iran to continue developing nuclear weapons.
Ebisawa was arrested for the first time New York in April 2022 And accused of trying to buy surface-to-air missiles in exchange for heroin. Ebisawa is being charged along with a co-defendant, identified by US authorities as Somphop Singhasiri, 61, of Thailand, who also faces drug charges.
Prosecutors allege that Ebisawa held a videoconference with undercover agents on February 4, 2022, who revealed that he had “over 2,000 kilograms of thorium-232” and “over 100 kilograms of uranium” in the form of U3O8. The compound U3O8 is commonly known as “yellowcake”, a name familiar to anyone who survived the Iraq War in 2003. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was reportedly trying to buy yellowcake from Niger for his nuclear weapons development program, a claim that later turned out to be based on forged documents,
The superseding indictment filed on Wednesday alleges that police in Thailand helped US officials seize nuclear material, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, which they say could be used to make nuclear weapons. Could have done. The nuclear material that Ebisawa tried to sell was also reportedly sourced from Burma. known as Myanmar,
“As alleged, the defendants in this case were smuggling drugs, weapons, and nuclear materials – even offering uranium and weapons-grade plutonium in the sole hope that Iran would use it. Will be used for nuclear weapons. “This is an extraordinary example of the depravity of drug traffickers with no regard for human life,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a public statement. posted online,
Milgram continued, “I commend the men and women of the DEA and this prosecution team for the tireless work they have done to protect us from such evil.”
The DEA has been investigating Ebisawa’s alleged drug trafficking since at least 2019. But Wednesday’s announcement that he was allegedly trying to sell materials that would help Iran build a nuclear weapon certainly raises the stakes.
Ebisawa is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon on Thursday at noon ET. The alleged yakuza leader faces seven charges, including international trafficking of nuclear materials, narcotics importation and money laundering. Ebisawa is also charged with conspiracy to possess firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices, which is punishable by up to life in prison.
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