Top Japanese yakuza mobster arrested in New York over plot to sell drugs to buy surface-to-air missiles, says DoJ

• A Japanese Yakuza leader was arrested over an alleged drugs for missiles plot.
• Takeshi Ebisawa, 57, is accused of conspiring to sell drugs in the US to purchase missiles for armed groups in Myanmar.

A Japanese Yakuza leader was arrested for allegedly conspiring to sell drugs in the US to purchase surface-to-air missiles for armed rebel groups in Myanmar, The Department of Justice said.

Takeshi Ebisawa, 57, was arrested in New York this week along with three Thai associates following a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation.

Prosecutors said that Ebisawa and his co-conspirators, Sompak Rukrasaranee, Somphob Singhasiri, and Suksan Jullanan, intended to distribute hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine and heroin to buy the weapons.

"The drugs were destined for New York streets, and the weapons shipments were meant for factions in unstable nations. Members of this international crime syndicate can no longer put lives in danger and will face justice for their illicit actions," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a press release.

Japan's notorious Yakuza are members of Mafia-like organized crime syndicates. The Department of Justice said Ebisawa's international criminal network spans Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Europe, and the United States.

The DEA had been investigating Ebisawa since around 2019, officials said.

Ebisawa introduced an undercover DEA agent posing as a narcotics and weapons trafficker to associates to arrange large-scale narcotics and weapons transactions, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday.

In a meeting in Copenhagen on or about February 3, 2021, Ebisawa and an associate met with an undercover DEA agent and two more undercover agents from Denmark Police.

At the meeting, Ebisawa handled and inspected an array of US Army weapons brought by the agents, including three portable M72 light anti-tank rocket weapons, ten 7.62 M60 machine guns, and ten 5.56 Colt Canada C8 fully automatic rifles.

The undercover agents also showed Ebisawa photographs and video of 400 US Army surface-to-air Stinger missiles purportedly stored at a nearby bunker.

After the meeting, Ebisawa allegedly told the agent that the political situation in Myanmar was deteriorating and that the rebel groups United Wa State Army and the Shan State Army needed weapons.

Ebisawa has been charged with five counts, including narcotics importation conspiracy, conspiracy to acquire, transfer, and possess surface-to-air missiles, and money laundering.

Many of the charges carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.