U.S has arrested yakuza leader, here’s why

The US has detained a Japanese yakuza boss and three Thai men, accusing them of trafficking heroin and methamphetamine and attempting to get US-made surface-to-air missiles for armed organisations in Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Takeshi Ebisawa, Sompak Rukrasaranee, Somphob Singhasiri, and Suksan Jullanan were detained in New York on narcotics and arms trafficking and money laundering allegations on Monday and Tuesday, according to the Justice Department.

“The drugs were bound for New York streets, and the arms shipments were destined for factions in dangerous countries,” said Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a statement. “Members of this worldwide crime organisation can no longer endanger people’s lives.”

Since at least 2019, US Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Thailand have been investigating the men for arranging to sell large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to an undercover agent from Myanmar’s United Wa State Army (UWSA), an ethnic armed group near the country’s border with China.

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

Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup in February 2021, and it is fighting not just armed rebels in border areas where violence has raged for years, but also so-called People’s Defence Forces, which were formed by civilians with minimal training and assistance from ethnic armed groups.

According to the US, the organised crime lord also attempted to purchase weapons for Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers. The gang used to dominate sections of northern and eastern Sri Lanka, but it was crushed in 2009 and its commanders were assassinated. During the conference, the Justice Department displayed a photograph of Ebisawa, bespectacled and dressed in a brown leather coat, with a rocket launcher perched on his shoulder.

On February 3, last year, Ebisawa, 57, and an accomplice travelled to Copenhagen, where an undercover DEA agent and two undercover Danish police officers showed them a slew of US military weapons apparently for sale, including machine guns and anti-tank rockets. During the encounter, Ebisawa was photographed with a rocket launcher, according to the charging sheet.

They also showed Ebisawa photographs and video of Stinger missiles being deployed to attack planes.

“We claim that Mr. Ebisawa and his co-conspirators made arrangements with an undercover DEA agent to purchase heavy-duty firearms and sell substantial amounts of illicit substances,” the Justice Department stated.

According to the indictment, throughout the inquiry, Ebisawa informed the undercover DEA agent that Jullanan, who has dual US-Thai citizenship, was a Thai air force general and Rukrasaranee was a retired Thai military official.

The Justice Department did not explain how the four individuals ended up in the United States.

The accusations of drug trafficking and possession of a firearm entail a possible penalty of life in prison.

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