The United States has arrested a Japanese yakuza leader and three Thais, accusing them of trafficking heroin and methamphetamine and trying to obtain US surface-to-air missiles for armed groups in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Takeshi Ebisawa, Sompak Rukrasaranee, Somphob Singhasiri and Suksan Jullanan were arrested in New York on Monday and Tuesday on charges of drug and weapons trafficking and money laundering, the Justice Department said. “The drugs were destined for the streets of New York and the arms shipments were destined for factions in unstable nations,” said Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney general for New York’s southern suburbs. “Members of this international crime syndicate can no longer risk their lives.” The men have been under investigation by US Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Thailand since at least 2019, with the aim of selling large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to a secret agent from the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Myanmar, an ethnic armed group on the border. region of the country. with China. Ebisawa planned 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. The Myanmar army seized power in a coup in February 2021 and is fighting not only with armed fighters in border areas where the conflict has been going on for years, but also by the so-called People’s Defense Forces, founded by elementary-trained civilians. and support from ethnic armed groups. The mastermind of organized crime also sought to buy weapons for the Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers (LTTE), known as the Tamil Tigers, the United States said. The group once controlled parts of northern and eastern Sri Lanka, but was defeated in 2009 and its leaders killed. The Justice Department included a photo of Ebisawa, wearing glasses and a brown leather coat, with a rocket launcher perched on his shoulder during the meeting. On February 3 last year, Ebisawa, 57, and an associate traveled to Copenhagen where a DEA undercover agent and two Danish undercover detectives showed them a range of U.S. military weapons ostensibly for sale, including machine guns and anti-tank rockets. The charge sheet included a photo of Ebisawa operating a rocket launcher during the meeting. They also showed photos of Ebisawa and a video of Stinger missiles being used to target aircraft. “We allege that Mr Ebisawa and his associates entered into agreements with a DEA undercover agent to purchase heavy weapons and sell large quantities of illicit drugs,” the Justice Department said in a statement. During the investigation, Ebisawa told the DEA undercover agent that Jullanan, a dual U.S. and Thai national, was a Thai Air Force general and that Rukrasaranee was a retired Thai military man, according to the indictment. The Department of Justice did not explain how the four men were found in the United States. Charges of trafficking and weapons carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
