Japanese mafia boss conspired to traffic nuclear materials, says US

US prosecutors have charged an alleged member of the Japanese mafia with conspiring to traffic nuclear materials, Report informs via BBC.

Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, tried to sell uranium and plutonium that he believed would be transferred to Iran to build a nuclear bomb, it is alleged.

Ebisawa and a Thai co-defendant were previously hit with weapons and drug charges in April 2022.

He faces life imprisonment if convicted of the latest charges.

US authorities say Ebisawa - who is being held in a Brooklyn jail - is a senior figure in the Japanese organized crime syndicate, known as the Yakuza, with operations in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and the US.

The US Department of Justice said Ebisawa and his "confederates showed samples of nuclear materials in Thailand" to an undercover agent from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).