Department of Justice
US agents say they tricked a Japanese crime lord into handing over nuclear fuel to them in an audacious sting operation.
The claim was made in court documents unsealed Wednesday, describing the effort to catch Takeshi Ebisawa.
US prosecutors in a press release described Ebisawa as a leading figure among Japanese gangsters, also known as yakuza.
They said the DEA fooled Ebisawa into believing he was selling them a shipment of plutonium and uranium to help Iran to build nuclear weapons.
He was arrested in 2022, per legal records reviewed by Business Insider, and as of Thursday was being held in federal custody in Brooklyn.
Ebisawa was first charged with trafficking weapons and drugs, but on Wednesday a superseding indictment included the nuclear-trafficking allegation.
Prosecutors say in the complaint against Ebisawa that the 60-year-old acquired uranium and weapons-grade plutonium in Myanmar, which is in the midst of a civil war.
After years of discussion, he delivered it to an undercover DEA agent in neighboring Thailand who was posing as a weapons trafficker, the documents said.
Prosecutors cited calls and text messages over the course of two years which they said showed Ebisawa trying to sell the nuclear fuel.
He appeared to find a buyer when the DEA agent said he could sell the nuclear fuel to a general in Iran who intended to build a nuclear weapon.
Prosecutors say Ebisawa was repeatedly reminded that the fuel was to be used for weapons, and at one point replied "Yes, I know."
He went on to suggest that he could also supply plutonium, which would be even "better" and make a more powerful bomb, the documents said.
They say Ebisawa was invited onto a video call with somebody posing as an Iranian general as part of the ruse.
He eventually brought a sample of the nuclear material to Thailand, where it was seized and confirmed to be genuine, per the documents.
In exchange he asked for a vast list of weapons, including sniper rifles and surface-to-air missiles, the indictment said. It included a WhatsApp screenshot of the weapons he wanted:
Department of Justice
In a statement announcing the indictment, US Attorney Damian Williams said Ebisawa "brazenly trafficked material containing uranium and weapons-grade plutonium from Burma to other countries."
(Burma is an alternative name for Myanmar.)
"He did so while believing that the material was going to be used in the development of a nuclear weapons program, and while also negotiating for the purchase of deadly weapons," he said.
He called the case "an extraordinary example of the depravity of drug traffickers who operate with total disregard for human life," and also referred to Ebisawa's conduct as "evil."
Ebisawa was charged with eight separate crimes, covering the allegations around moving nuclear material, as well as other charges like money laundering, narcotics trafficking, and illegally trading in conventional weapons.
A codefendant, Somphop Singhasiri, 61, was also charged with narcotics and firearms offenses.
Most of the counts have a maximum punishment of life in prison.
