Yakuza Leader Takeshi Ebisawa Charged with Selling Nuclear Materials to Undercover DEA Agents in New York

Published: 22 February 2024 at 00:19

Takeshi Ebisawa, a leader in Japan\'s Yakuza crime syndicate, was arrested in New York after attempting to sell nuclear materials to undercover DEA agents posing as middlemen for an Iranian general. Ebisawa initially tried to sell drugs and surface-to-air missiles but later showed samples of nuclear materials to the agents. The charged co-defendant, Somphop Singhasiri from Thailand, also faces drug charges. The nuclear materials included 2,000 kilograms of Thorium-232 and more than 100 kilograms of U3O8 (yellowcake), similar to the infamous claim made about Iraq\'s Saddam Hussein in 2003.

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