The Worrying Truth About the Yakuza Boss Selling Uranium and Plutonium from Myanmar
The US accused a Japanese mob boss of seeking to trade radioactive materials for weapons for rebels in Myanmar. World of Crime reveals why the truth may be more dangerous still.
Names to Remember:
Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, a Japanese citizen alleged to be a member of the Yakuza and charged with trying to sell uranium and plutonium, as well as drugs, to the United States in exchange for advanced weaponry.
Yawd Serk, 65, political and military leader in the Shan State Army, an ethnic rebel group in northeastern Myanmar. An outspoken advocate of peace talks, but accused of a slew of crimes. Has allegedly been mining uranium in his territory and was willing to sell it in exchange for weapons.
A shadowy Yakuza boss. A plot to sell nuclear materials of dubious origin. Rebel groups in Myanmar. The story unveiled last week by a new US indictment naturally grabbed a lot of attention and headlines around the world.
Takeshi Ebisawa, an alleged Yakuza leader, was first arrested in New York in April 2022 after allegedly trying to buy surface-to-air missiles in exchange for methamphetamine and heroin. The missiles were then to be sold to two rebel groups in Myanmar, according to the US Department of Justice.
In a series of exchanges from 2020 onwards, Ebisawa and his co-conspirators were dealing with undercover DEA agents, and the missiles, allegedly stolen from US bases in Afghanistan, didn’t exist.
This story got a lot more interesting on February 21 when a new superseding indictment accused Ebisawa of also trying to sell uranium, thorium, and plutonium in exchange for the missiles and other heavy weaponry. The samples he provided to the undercover operatives tested positive for all three radioactive materials, and the plutonium isotope was at a weapons-grade level.
World of Crime goes deep into this fascinating case and reveals a few key details:
Myanmar’s Rebel Groups May Be Secretly Mining Uranium
The case documents against Ebisawa mention three rebel groups in Myanmar: the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and the Shan State Army (SSA). However, the superseding indictment makes it clear that a leader of the SSA was willing to sell uranium to fund the weapons purchase.
In both the 2022 criminal complaint and the 2024 superseding indictment, this leader is identified as CC-1 but is described as the “chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State, which is the political arm of the Shan State Army.”
The Chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State is Yawd Serk, a well-known leader of the SSA. He has been engaged for decades in peace talks with representatives of the military junta and was crucial to the signing of the National Peace Agreement in 2015. Since then, he has publicly advocated for peace, although the SSA and government relations have been highly complicated. He has been accused of a wide range of atrocities, including terrorism, burning entire villages, rape, drug trafficking and manufacturing counterfeit currency.
The charges stated that Yawd Serk had confirmed to Ebisawa and others that uranium was being mined in SSA territory. On February 25, Yawd Serk publicly denied any connection to the charges and said that, while a foreign individual had expressed interest in buying uranium “a few years ago,” the deal never went anywhere.
The details of the case make it clear the radioactive materials had the potential to be real.
Another of Ebisawa’s associates shared a picture stating they had over 101 kilograms of Uranium-308 and over 2.4 tons of Thorium-232. Yawd Serk was said to be able to produce “as much as five tons of nuclear materials.”
Takeshi Ebisawa may not be a Yakuza boss at all
Ebisawa does not appear to be telling the whole truth.
His claims of being connected to the Yakuza are dubious. The 2022 indictment states that Ebisawa is a “leader of the Yakuza transnational organized crime syndicate” but without giving more detail. A note to the indictment states that the Yakuza is “comprised of multiple crime syndicates.”
The Yakuza is indeed an umbrella term to refer to several standalone syndicates, including the Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai, and Inagawa-kai. US authorities have gone after all three of these groups in the past, identifying them individually as criminal organizations.
So was it unclear which one Ebisawa belonged to? Perhaps, but there is severe doubt whether he is a Yakuza member at all, especially a leader.
Japanese investigators say Ebisawa has no known connection to domestic organized crime, according to local reports.
The indictment also indicated Ebisawa named his co-defendant, a Thai national named Somphop Singhasiri, as a Yakuza leader known as “Sampo.”
While there have been foreign members of the Yakuza, especially descendants of Korean immigrants to Japan, that is a long way from alleging Singhasiri was one.
More evidence may come out as the case progresses. But “the only people who have come forward said [Ebisawa] was a fraudster, very good at talking, but never a yakuza," said Dr. Martina Baradel, a researcher at Oxford University specialized in Japanese organized crime.
So was the nuclear materials deal real?
Possibly. There’s too much evidence backing up almost every other part of Ebisawa’s deal to rule the uranium part out.
The quantity of drugs offered by Ebisawa was highly believable, since Myanmar is a major producer of meth and heroin. Rebel groups in the country have frequently trafficked weapons abroad. The sheer amount of weapons Ebisawa was seeking to pay for and the details and samples he provided about the nuclear materials make it tough to believe this was all a scam.
But to be clear, it would be sensational if rebel groups like the SSA are able to produce several tons of uranium or thorium to sell to the highest bidder. The DEA agents trapping Ebisawa posed credibly as Iranian generals. “It is chilling to imagine the consequences had these efforts succeeded,” said a DOJ spokesperson.
The Myanmar government has faced repeated accusations of seeking to build a nuclear weapon, although no firm evidence of this has emerged.
But if the investigation into Ebisawa confirms Yawd Serk’s involvement and the SSA’s production of radioactive materials, a new wave of US sanctions against the SSA and government allies could be seen. Frosty relations between the US and Myanmar would likely worsen, especially amid heightened tensions with China and Iran, both potential buyers of Myanmar’s uranium.