Japanese Yakuza boss Takeshi Ebisawa detained in US, accused of trying to smuggle missiles and drugs

WASHINGTON DC, KOMPAS.com – United States of America (AS) caught a Japanese yakuza boss and three Thai men, on charges of smuggling heroin and methamphetamine, and attempting to acquire US missiles for the group armed from Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Takeshi EbisawaSompak Rukrasaranee, Somphob Singhasiri and Suksan Jullanan were arrested in New York on Monday (4/4/2022) and Tuesday (5/4/2022) for drug trafficking and weapon as well as money laundering charges, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

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“Drugs were intended for the streets of New York, and arms shipments were intended for factions in unstable states,” Damian Williams, US attorney for the southern district of New York, said in a statement. Al Jazeera on Jumar (8/4/2022).

“Member international crime syndicate it can no longer be life threatening.”

The men have been investigated by US Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Thailand since at least 2019.

They are accused of orchestrating the sale of large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to undercover agents of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), an armed ethnic group on Myanmar’s border with China.

Ebisawa plans to buy automatic weapons, rockets, machine guns and surface-to-air missiles for UWSA, as well as two other armed groups in Myanmar, the Karen National Union and the Shan State Army.

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Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup in February 2021 and is battling not only armed fighters in border areas where conflict has rumbled for years, but also from the so-called People’s Defense Forces.

The group was founded by civilians who received basic training and support from armed ethnic groups.

According to the US, the organized crime boss is also trying to buy weapons for the Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The organization known as the Tamil Tigers once controlled parts of northern and eastern Sri Lanka but lost in 2009 and its leaders were killed.

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