Yakuza boss arrested for trying to trade surface-to-air missiles for heroin

57-year-old Japanese citizen Takeshi Ebisawa, a well-known crime boss, was arrested in Manhattan, Nikkei Asia reports . Ebisawa, not suspecting a trick, made a deal with an agent of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, who acted undercover and offered the Japanese to buy surface-to-air missiles stolen from US military bases in Afghanistan. Ebisawa planned to sell weapons to militants in Myanmar, who offered to pay for them in drugs - 500 kilograms of methamphetamine and 500 kilograms of heroin.

“Drugs were destined for the streets of New York, and arms shipments were destined for groups in unstable countries,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “Members of the international crime syndicate will face justice for their illegal actions.”

Ebisawa has been under the surveillance of the DEA since 2019, the agency calls him a major player in the arms and drug trade. In the end, undercover agents managed to gain confidence in him and meet with him in Japan and Thailand. During the negotiations, Ebisawa allegedly used the code word "cake" for drugs and the code word "bamboo" for the word "weapon".