Smuggled nuclear waste cases double
The Australian ^ | 10/07/06 | Lewis Smith
theaustralian.news.com.au
"SEIZURES of smuggled radioactive material capable of making a terrorist "dirty bomb" have doubled in the past four years, according to official figures.
Smugglers have been caught trying to traffick dangerous radioactive material more than 300 times since 2002, statistics from the International Atomic Energy Agency show. Most of the incidents are understood to have occurred in Europe."
"Western security services, including Britain's MI5 and MI6, last year thwarted 16 attempts to smuggle plutonium or uranium. On two occasions, small quantities of highly enriched uranium were reported missing. All were feared to have been destined for terror groups. Scientists responsible for analysing the seizures have warned that traffickers are turning to hospital X-ray equipment and laboratory supplies as a source of radioactive material."
"There were 103 cases of illicit trafficking last year, compared with fewer than 30 in 1996. Fifty-eight incidents were reported in 2002, rising to 90 in 2003 and 130 in 2004.
Seizures of the past three years equal the amount of trafficking in the previous seven years."
Al-Qa'ida makes no secret of its desire to obtain a dirty bomb. Its leader in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, last month called for scientists to join it and experiment with radioactive devices for use against coalition troops.
Even before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden invited two Pakistani atomic scientists to visit a training camp in Afghanistan to discuss how to assemble a bomb using stolen plutonium. Captured al-Qa'ida leaders have since confessed to the CIA of their attempts to smuggle a radioactive device into the US.
Klaus Lutzenkirchen, who helps analyse the seized substances, said even small quantities of radioactive material could be of use to terrorists.
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