NEW YORK CITY, New York: A Japanese man, Takeshi Ebisawa, pleaded responsible this week in a U.S. court docket to expenses of trafficking uranium and plutonium, believing Iran would use them to make nuclear weapons.
The 60-year-old admitted to weapons and drug trafficking expenses that would result in a minimal of 10 years in jail, with a doable life sentence. His sentencing is scheduled for April 9.
Prosecutors mentioned Ebisawa was tricked in 2021 and 2022 into working with a confidential supply from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and somebody pretending to be an Iranian common. He was arrested in Manhattan in April 2022 throughout a DEA sting operation.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram known as the case proof of the company’s means to take down harmful worldwide felony networks. She mentioned the investigation revealed the surprising extent of organized crime, from trafficking nuclear supplies to dealing medicine and supplying weapons to violent teams.
Acting U.S. Attorney Edward Y. Kim mentioned Ebisawa admitted to smuggling nuclear supplies, together with weapons-grade plutonium, from Myanmar. He additionally tried to ship heroin and methamphetamine to the U.S. in trade for navy weapons like surface-to-air missiles, which he deliberate to make use of in Myanmar.
Court paperwork confirmed that in 2020, Ebisawa claimed he had entry to nuclear supplies on the market. He despatched images of radioactive substances and mentioned they contained uranium and thorium. The supplies reportedly got here from a pacesetter of a insurgent group in Myanmar who had been mining uranium. Ebisawa advised promoting the uranium to fund a weapons deal.
Samples of the supplies had been examined in a U.S. lab and confirmed to comprise uranium, thorium, and weapons-grade plutonium, which could possibly be utilized in nuclear weapons.
Ebisawa’s legal professionals haven’t but commented on the case.