Takeshi Ebisawa pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic nuclear materials, including uranium and weapons-grade plutonium, from Myanmar to other countries, U.S. officials said.

A member of the Japanese yakuza criminal underworld pleaded guilty to handling nuclear material sourced from Myanmar and seeking to sell it to fund an illicit arms deal, US authorities said Wednesday.

A Japanese Yakuza leader pleaded guilty in New York federal court to conspiring to traffic nuclear materials from Burma to other countries, prosecutors said. The Yakuza member Takeshi Ebisawa also pleaded guilty to international narcotics trafficking and weapons charges,