Japan Today
FILE PHOTO: Takeshi Ebisawa poses with a rocket launcher during a meeting with an informant at a warehouse in Copenhagen
Takeshi Ebisawa poses with a rocket launcher at a warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, on February 3, 2021. Image: Reuters/U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE/SDNY
crime

Yakuza leader pleads guilty in U.S. to trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar

30 Comments
By Kanishka Singh

The leader of a Japanese crime syndicate who was charged by U.S. authorities with trafficking nuclear materials from Myanmar pleaded guilty on Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, of Japan, pleaded guilty in Manhattan, New York, to conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Myanmar to other countries, the Justice Department said. Ebisawa also pleaded guilty to international narcotics trafficking and weapons charges, the department added.

In February 2024, U.S. authorities charged the Japanese yakuza leader with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials from Myanmar for expected use by Iran in nuclear weapons.

He was also previously charged in 2022 with international narcotics trafficking and firearms offenses.

"As he admitted in federal court today, Takeshi Ebisawa brazenly trafficked nuclear material, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma (Myanmar)," said Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Kim for the Southern District of New York.

"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 and laundered what he believed to be drug money from New York to Tokyo."

Ebisawa's plot was detected and stopped through cooperation between authorities in the U.S., Indonesia, Japan and Thailand.

© Thomson Reuters 2025.

©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.

30 Comments
Login to comment

Just look at this little old clown in his fake leather jacket, thinking he's "tough".

Good to see the US authorities going after Yakuza - who are all scum - in a big way. Heroin and meth traficking, human trafficking, and now trafficking of nuclear material. Hopefully Ebisawa gets the maximum of life and dies in a US prison.

The only good Yakuza (or Yakuza affiliate) is a dead one.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

What the heck was weapons grade plutonium doing in Myanmar!?!?

9 ( +13 / -4 )

"weapons-grade plutonium"...

...in Myanmar???

7 ( +9 / -2 )

What the heck was weapons grade plutonium doing in Myanmar!?!?

Most likely through connections to their close co-conspirator - North Korea. Sourcing and trading weapons-grade nuclear material means $$$ millions for the Burmese military rulers - and clearly Japanese gangsters too.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

A reported effort, purportedly being undertaken with assistance from North Korea, involves the construction of a nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction facilities in caves tunneled into a mountain at Naung Laing, a village in the Mandalay division.

Front and center usual suspects.

Seems you can get antitank weapons, surface to air missiles and nuclear weapons materials in this world easier than a joint in some countries.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

Mate I would really enjoy sitting down with Takeshi and hear about his life story. Seem like a real character.

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

BAD ASS

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

Pleading guilty means no cross examination nor chance to describe co offenders.

Straight to jail.

Maybe, just maybe, FBI and others will have informative conversations with him at a later date.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

I hope the weapons grade plutonium was just to go in some yak leader's fake bazooka.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Plus, doubt he is the "leader " in Yak gang....more likely an underling.

Leaders dont expose themselves to arrest.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

There’s no place in Japan for yaks with rocket launchers.

Keep him in theUS!!!

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

GuruMick

Maybe, just maybe, FBI and others will have informative conversations with him at a later date.

If he doesn't "kill himself" in prison first.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Okay, they've caught this one, but I wonder if any other smugglers got through. Hard to believe they gave up with only one attempt. If a country has made up its mind to proceed, nuclear profusion is just a matter of time.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Whaddadouchebag

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Mate I would really enjoy sitting down with Takeshi and hear about his life story. Seem like a real character.

I'd just like to read a little more information on this guy, considering we hear more about people committing petty crimes every day. Even the Japanese articles refer to him as エビサワ・タケシ, and don't have his name in Kanji, or what syndicate he supposedly belongs to.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

There's a 2022 report when he was first arrested that poses some doubt on the Yakuza angle. Apparently he was boasting his Yakuza ties to the undercover agent who arrested him. Probably to bolster his bona fides.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I guess he did not want to wait. He wanted a nuclear armed Japan. Bad Yakuza boss. Should have stayed in your lane lending money to pachinko losers...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I wonder if he's over stepped the line, and he's been set up

0 ( +1 / -1 )

a lot of conflicting reporting on this, some of it seems fanciful. some said he had samples of plutonium, which i doubt. its one of the most toxic substances known.

others saying he showed photos of uranium with a geiger counter.

building a reactor for plutonium extraction sounds more like a movie where the plot is a scheme to extract money from someone thinking they could do it.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The picture is exactly how many people envision what yakuza leader looks like

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Geez....lock this joker up for good. But realistically sounds like he could do some singing to the CIA and reduce his term.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Let this be a lesson to other Yaks to keep their shenanigans on their side of the lake.

Love him or hate him, Uncle Sam doesn't F around.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Well, he was an ambitious certainly a busy little Yakuza now wasn't he.

I wonder if the guilty plea means he has made a deal to serve his time in Japan, where he'll have other Yakuza around him in jail.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

From the family photo album of a rather absurd aging global illegal arms/drug dealer.

"As he admitted in federal court today, Takeshi Ebisawa brazenly trafficked nuclear material, including weapons-grade plutonium, out of Burma (Myanmar)," 

I contend, fear that Takeshi Ebisawa, a ruthless career Yakuza mobster is willing to die in prison to secure his legacy of "honour" stretching back centuries.

I suggest Takeshi Ebisawa "sacrifice" is to cyclically advance leverage the future of his "crime families" necessity to adapt.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Bret T a pertinent point, to conspire with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium.

That's frankly alarming into the outcomes of such wickedness, the horrific consequences of such materials falling into the hands of Islamic extremists is obvious.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Japan?

Nothing more than a lost state.

Go tickle my fancy?

America? Sayonara.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

And you thought those Kidnapping Phone Scammers were bad

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I guess I should have included this, in case you’re unaware:

https://www.pattayamail.com/thailandnews/missing-chinese-star-returns-safe-486580

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He going to get mad respect, perks, and a padded commissary account in the fed - fellow prisoners going to fight just to sit around him - that's why he pleaded guilty and he know it

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"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 and laundered what he believed to be drug money from New York to Tokyo."

Ronald Reagan and Oliver North did the same thing...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites