CNN —An alleged leader of a Japanese organized crime syndicate has been charged with attempting to sell weapons-grade nuclear materials from the leader of an ethnic insurgent group in Myanmar, according to a new indictment from the US Justice Department. Takeshi Ebisawa, an alleged leader in the yakuza who was arrested in 2022 on charges over drug and weapons trafficking conspiracies, faces several new charges for allegedly attempting to sell nuclear materials to someone he believed was an Iranian general, in exchange for a significant weapons cache. The agent asked Ebisawa if the material was usable for nuclear weapons, saying that Iran needed “it for nuclear weapons.”“I think so and I hope so,” Ebisawa said, according to the indictment. In a recorded video call, brokers for the leader of the insurgent group claimed the leader had thousands of kilograms of nuclear material and “could produce as much as five tons of nuclear materials in” the territory the leader controlled. During the call, the DEA undercover agent asked about exchanging uranium for weapons from Iran, which the brokers and the leader agreed with.

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