WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- A Japanese yakuza leader on Wednesday pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to conspiring to traffic nuclear materials such as uranium and weapons-grade plutonium from Myanmar to other countries, the Justice Department said.

Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, an organized crime syndicate member, also admitted to conspiring with a global network of associates from countries including Thailand, Sri Lanka and the United States to traffic drugs and weapons, according to the department.

"Our investigation into Takeshi Ebisawa and his associates exposed the shocking depths of international organized crime from trafficking nuclear materials to fueling the narcotics trade and arming violent insurgents," Anne Milgram, who heads the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a statement.

Ebisawa was arrested and charged in April 2022 with drug trafficking and firearms offenses in New York. About two years later, charges related to the trafficking of nuclear material were added.

The department quoted acting U.S. Attorney Edward Kim for the Southern District of New York as saying Ebisawa had sought "to send massive quantities of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States in exchange for heavy-duty weaponry such as surface-to-air missiles to be used on battlefields in (Myanmar)."