Leader of Japanese Criminal Group Admits to Smuggling Nuclear Materials from Myanmar 'to Iran'

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that the leader of a Japanese criminal group known as the 'Yakuza,' who had been accused by American officials of smuggling nuclear materials potentially destined for Iran, has confessed to his crime. According to a statement from the Department of Justice released on Thursday, January 10, Takashi Abisawa, 60, admitted in a Manhattan court to conspiring to smuggle nuclear materials from Myanmar to other countries, including Iran, and acknowledged that he collaborated with a network of criminals to traffic uranium and plutonium with the purity required for nuclear weapons. The statement adds that Abisawa also confessed to international drug and arms trafficking. However, prosecutors say Abisawa was unaware that he had been in contact in 2021 and 2022 with an anonymous source from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and that source's associate, who posed as an Iranian general. The Associated Press reported that it is 'believed' that Iran could have used these materials in the production of nuclear weapons. U.S. officials charged this Yakuza leader in February 2024 with conspiring to smuggle nuclear materials from Myanmar to Iran for use in nuclear weapons. He was also charged in 2022 when he was arrested during a police raid in Manhattan for international drug trafficking and related firearms offenses. Edward Kim, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, stated: 'As Takashi Abisawa admitted today in federal court, he brazenly trafficked nuclear materials, including weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma (Myanmar).' This U.S. official added: 'At the same time, he attempted to send large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States in exchange for heavy weapons such as surface-to-air missiles to be used in conflicts in Burma. He also engaged in money laundering of income derived from drug trafficking from New York to Tokyo.' Abisawa's scheme was uncovered and halted through cooperation between U.S., Indonesian, Japanese, and Thai officials.