It is alleged that Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, attempted to sell uranium and plutonium that he thought would be transferred to Iran for the purpose of building a nuclear bomb.
In April 2022, Mr. Ebisawa and a Thai co-defendant were charged with firearms and drugs.
Should the latest charges be proven true, he could be sentenced to life in jail.
According to US officials, Mr. Ebisawa, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail, is a prominent member of the Yakuza, a Japanese organized crime group that has activities in the US, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand.
Mr. Ebisawa and his “confederates showed samples of nuclear materials in Thailand” to a US Drug Enforcement Agency undercover agent, according to the US Department of Justice (DEA).
Under false pretenses, the operative was a weapons and drug trafficker with connections to an Iranian commander.
The radioactive samples were taken by Thai authorities and given to US investigators; they were obtained from Myanmar. The material’s presence of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium was confirmed by a US laboratory.
Additionally, the prosecution claims that Mr. Ebisawa attempted to obtain substantial amounts of military-grade weaponry in Myanmar on behalf of an unidentified rebel group.
Surface-to-air missiles, assault and sniper rifles, machine guns, rockets of different calibers, and a range of tactical equipment were among the armaments.
