Last week the Asian Crime briefing reported how historically many arms dealers have also been engaged in fraud and also on the recent case involving Japanese national Takeshi Ebisawa who has been arrested and charged by the US authorities with conspiracy to sell uranium and weapons grade plutonium from Myanmar. The report led to a number of comments and questions from readers, and this follow up is to reflect these as well as fact check the case.
Yakuza?
The US authorities have claimed that Ebisawa “is a leader of the Yakuza organised crime syndicate, a highly organized, transnational Japanese criminal network that operates around the world”.
An experienced commentator on politics, law and history in Japan has provided some comments on this point.
“Since he was first arrested in 2022, Japan has confirmed he is NOT a member much less a leader of a yakuza group - the criminal involved simply lied about his connections to gain some street cred in Thailand. If there was a real Japan connection other than what we know about this high school dropout who lives part-time in Thailand Japanese media would be literally all over this. They love a good Yakuza yarn as much as the rest of the world. The US indictment does not mention what Yakuza group he is supposed to lead which is a pretty clear tell. If this was a Yakuza leader in Japan we would know exactly what group he was in - that they talk about him as yakuza vanilla does not fit.”
These insightful comments highlight the clumsy reference to Yakuza leadership in the statement from the US authorities regarding charges against Ebisawa. Yakuza are not a single criminal organisation, but are a number of different and separate organised crime syndicates. The three largest Yakuza syndicates, the Yamaguchi-gumi, the Sumiyoshi-kai, and the Inagawa-kai, may have agreements regarding areas of criminal activity but they are not the same group.
The veteran journalist Bertil Lintner raised questions about the case in 2022. Writing in The Irrawaddy, Lintner wrote that “The alleged “leader of the Yakuza transnational organized crime syndicate,” who was going to supply the weapons is identified as Takeshi Ebisawa and the document even has a picture of him showing one of the MANPADS at a meeting with the undercover DEA agent. But Yakuza is the common name for a wide range of minor, middle-sized and larger Japanese crime syndicates and the name of this particular group is not mentioned anywhere in the submission to the court. Regardless of the size of the group, the leader himself would in any way not be involved in such deals; that is something his underlings would do in order to give their boss plausible deniability if anyone is caught.” (Source: The Irrawaddy, 5 May 2022, ‘US Drug and Arms Arrests Smear Myanmar Ethnic Armed Organization’)
Entrapment?
The case against Ebisawa stems from the involvement of an undercover agent working for the US authorities.
Bertil LIntner has noted that “The question of the actual identities of the three Thai middlemen is also a mystery. One of them, Suksan “Bobby” Jullanan, is referred to as “a Thai air force general”.…And then there is a “CC-1”, or Co-Conspirator 1, who is not named but is described as “the chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State.” That, of course, is Yawd Serk, who is not an underground figure or a fugitive from justice. He has taken part in several peace talks with the Myanmar military and traveled freely to and from Yangon as well as Naypyitaw….In the end, all that the DEA appears to have ended up with is the arrest of a talkative Japanese fraudster— and three Thai conmen who no one inside Myanmar seems to have heard of.”
An experienced foreign affairs journalist in Asia has commented that “The confidential informant is a very colourful ex-special forces guy, goes by the name of Bob. He’s been hanging around the Golden Triangle…got busted sailing a boat of weed into the US in the ‘70’s.”
According to the US Department of Justice, the charges laid against Ebisawa are:
Conspiracy to commit international trafficking of nuclear materials
International trafficking of nuclear materials
Narcotics importation conspiracy
Conspiracy to possess firearms, including machineguns and destructive devices
Conspiracy to acquire, transfer, and possess surface-to-air missiles.
Narcotics importation conspiracy
Conspiracy to possess firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices
Money laundering
These are serious charges, but they come from an undercover agent who had a role in procuring and nuclear materials, selling weapons, and narcotics. There is a fine line for an undercover agent between observing what a criminal does and entrapment, which according to US Department of Justice Criminal Resource Manual means that "Government agents may not originate a criminal design, implant in an innocent person's mind the disposition to commit a criminal act, and then induce commission of the crime so that the Government may prosecute."
The DEA have arrested Ebisawa and several others allegedly engaged in serious criminal activity involving the procurement and sale of weapons (especially nuclear related materials) and narcotics. However, the reference to Yakuza leadership seems to be clumsy language and the role of the undercover agent raises questions regarding the extent of his encouragement of the activity. The court trial will be interesting.