Weapons Grade Uranium Seized

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Dreadsox

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ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish paramilitary police have seized more than 33 pounds of weapons-grade uranium and detained two men accused of smuggling the material, the state-run Anatolian news agency said on Saturday.

Officers in the southern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 155 miles from the Iraqi border, were acting on a tip-off when they stopped a taxi cab and discovered the uranium in a lead container hidden beneath the vehicle's seat, the agency said.

The incident happens at a time of mounting speculation the United States could launch a military attack on neighboring Iraq for its alleged program of weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. President George Bush has accused Baghdad of clandestine efforts to develop a nuclear bomb as his administration works to build international support for an operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Officials at Ankara's Atomic Energy Institute would not confirm they had been notified about the material, which Anatolia had reported.

"Our investigation on whether the uranium was destined for a neighboring country is continuing," a Sanliurfa police official was quoted as saying by Anatolian.

Police officials in Sanliurfa and Ankara declined to comment on the case.

Authorities believe the uranium came from an east European country and has a value of about $5 million, Anatolian said.

It was not immediately clear when the operation was carried out. Anatolian only gave the first names of the suspects, which appeared to be Turkish.

Smugglers use Turkey's porous eastern border to import drugs, and hundreds of thousands of migrants each year illegally cross the rugged frontier on their way to more affluent European Union nations.

Police in Istanbul seized more than 2.2 pounds of weapons-grade uranium last November that had been smuggled into Turkey from an east European nation. The smugglers were detained after attempting to sell the material to undercover police officers.
 
Dread-
It was prolly planted there by 'the vast right-wing conspiracy members who hate Saddam-faction' ppl;)

DB9:dance: :lol: :cool:
 
diamond said:
Dread-
It was prolly planted there by 'the vast right-wing conspiracy members who hate Saddam-faction' ppl;)

DB9:dance: :lol: :cool:


Ha Ha!!!!!!!

I was actually thinking it...but I did not type it!


Peace to all!!!!
 
CannibalisticArtist said:
if you sieze one you know many more have made it through. kinda like the cocaine business.


1.) Uranium is very rare to begin with..unlike cocaine that can be grown

2.) Weapons grade plutonium is even rarer

3.) the VAST majority of underground sales of uranium or fissile material turn out to be frauds.
 
DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly Report Exclusively:
US-Russian Teams Hunting Iraq-bound Uranium Five Weeks
28 September: The mysterious tip-off that led Turkish paramilitary police to the taxi cab, transporting 33 lbs of enriched uranium in a lead container hidden under a seat, came from the joint US-Russian undercover team that has for five weeks been tracking Iraqi operatives who were sent by the Iraqi ruler to hunt for the essential ingredient in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. The news released Saturday, September 28, does not say when the seizure took place.
This joint team, working out of Moscow, was first uncovered by DEBKA-Net-Weekly Issue 74 on August 23:
Operatives of the American and the Russian SVR secret services are jointly engaged in an epic hunt for a band of undercover Iraqi operatives racing up and down Russia, Belarus, the Ukraine and Kazakhstan this past week. According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly?s exclusive sources, the Iraqis have been sent by Saddam Hussein on an illicit hunt for nuclear material, particularly weapons-grade enriched Uranium-235. They are also trying to buy black market missile parts.
American and Russian task forces have set up a joint command center in Moscow to coordinate the high-stakes chase.
The alarm was first sounded in Washington and Moscow in early August by reports of Iraq agents splashing out with multi-million dollar offers for nuclear material. They did not take the information too seriously at first. But then came further reports that 15 Iraqi agents had split up into three groups, two covering Kazakhstan and the Ukraine and the third, Belarus.
The American and Russian presidents put their heads together and decided their intelligence operational divisions would mount a hot pursuit of the Iraqi agents, hoping to get to them before they reached their objective.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly?s sources say the chase is still on.
The haul in the southern Turkish province of Sanliurfia, which borders on Syria, may have given President George W. Bush the conclusive evidence he needs to prove that Saddam Hussein is racing to build up a nuclear warfare capability and may use it in the approaching war. It may be the clincher in Washington?s bid for support at home and abroad in its decision to use military force against Iraq.
On Saturday, American and British representatives, having been rejected by France, arrived in Moscow to win the Russians round to Washington?s case against Saddam Hussein.
There is little doubt that the Turkish smugglers who had been promised $5 million for the uranium were on their way to the Syrian or Iraqi borders to hand it over to their Iraqi clients.
Despite the US-Russian success in tracking down one shipment of enriched uranium sufficient for the fabrication of several small bombs, there is no knowing for certain if previous consignments have not got through to destination and were already being processed.
 
Great article us3:up:

Originally posted by us3
, came from the joint US-Russian undercover team that has for five weeks been tracking Iraqi operatives who were sent by the Iraqi ruler to hunt for the essential ingredient in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

..that is scary-the largeness of the War On Terror..


. According to DEBKA-Net-Weekly?s exclusive sources, the Iraqis have been sent by Saddam Hussein on an illicit hunt for nuclear material, particularly weapons-grade enriched Uranium-235. They are also trying to buy black market missile parts.

..this is VERY SCARY...


American and Russian task forces have set up a joint command center in Moscow to coordinate the high-stakes chase.
The alarm was first sounded in Washington and Moscow in early August by reports of Iraq agents splashing out with multi-million dollar offers for nuclear material. They did not take the information too seriously at first. But then came further reports that 15 Iraqi agents had split up into three groups, two covering Kazakhstan and the Ukraine and the third, Belarus.

Glad to see the USA and Russia working together..


The American and Russian presidents put their heads together and decided their intelligence operational divisions would mount a hot pursuit of the Iraqi agents, hoping to get to them before they reached their objective.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly?s sources say the chase is still on.
The haul in the southern Turkish province of Sanliurfia, which borders on Syria, may have given President George W. Bush the conclusive evidence he needs to prove that Saddam Hussein is racing to build up a nuclear warfare capability and may use it in the approaching war. It may be the clincher in Washington?s bid for support at home and abroad in its decision to use military force against Iraq.
On Saturday, American and British representatives, having been rejected by France, arrived in Moscow to win the Russians round to Washington?s case against Saddam Hussein.
There is little doubt that the Turkish smugglers who had been promised $5 million for the uranium were on their way to the Syrian or Iraqi borders to hand it over to their Iraqi clients.


Despite the US-Russian success in tracking down one shipment of enriched uranium sufficient for the fabrication of several small bombs, there is no knowing for certain if previous consignments have not got through to destination and were already being processed. [/B

Yes..makes u wonder if they were successful before..

thanks for the article..

db9
 
Refined uranium found in Turkey weighs grams, not kilograms

By Yossi Melman, Ha'aretz Correspondent, and Agencies


The refined uranium caught by Turkish police Saturday weighed far less than originally thought, an official source in southwestern Turkey said Sunday.

It was originally believed that the Turkish paramilitary police had seized over 15 kg of weapons-grade uranium in the operation that also resulted in the detention of two men accused of smuggling the substance. The actual weight of the uranium turned out to be hundreds of grams, a fraction of the initial estimate.

The uranium is to be sent for tests to the local Atomic Energy Agency. The two suspects were brought before a judge Saturday night charged with the illegal sale of the material.

Officers in the southern province of Sanliurfa, bordering Syria and 250 km from the Iraqi border, were acting on a tip-off when they stopped a taxi cab and discovered the uranium in a lead container hidden beneath the vehicle's seat, the Anatolian news agency said Saturday.

The incident came at a time of mounting speculation the U.S. could attack neighboring Iraq for its alleged program of weapons of mass destruction.

Officials at Ankara's Atomic Energy Institute would not confirm they had been notified about the material. "Our investigation on whether the uranium was destined for a neighboring country is continuing," a Sanliurfa police official was quoted as saying by Anatolian.

Authorities believe the uranium came from an east European country and has a value of about $5 million, Anatolian said. It was not immediately clear when the operation was carried out. Anatolian only gave the first names of the suspects, which appeared to be Turkish.

Smugglers use Turkey's porous eastern border to import drugs, and hundreds of thousands of migrants each year illegally cross the rugged frontier on their way to more affluent European Union nations.

Police in Istanbul seized more than one kg of weapons-grade uranium last November that had been smuggled into Turkey from an east European state. The smugglers were detained after attempting to sell the material to undercover police officers.
 
Just on the news ( Radio ),....

The uranium is for medical use and the turkish police did let go the suspects.The wieght of the uranium is about 10 gram and with the lead packing about 15 kg.
 
it's an easy mistake to maek Uranium naturally decays to lead...so when someone finds radioactive lead.....they usually assume it uranium to be on the safe side.
 
nbcrusader said:
I was sure that the Uranium was for Saddam's state of the art baby milk factory!



Now that, I think is the funniest thing I have read in a while. Bush should use this in his next UN Address.


Peace to all.
 
NOT URANIUM

By Associated Press

September 30, 2002, 8:43 PM EDT


ANKARA, Turkey -- Atomic energy officials said Monday that a substance seized by police near the Syrian border was not weapons-grade uranium as Turkish officials first reported, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Atomic Energy Institute chief Guler Koksal said the material was harmless, containing zinc, iron, zirconium and manganese.

The announcement ended days of speculation that the substance might have been destined for neighboring Iraq, which the United States accuses of trying to smuggle in nuclear material for a secret weapons program.

Police, acting on a tip, recovered the material in a taxi last week in Sanliurfa province, near the Syrian border. Two Turks who were trying to sell the material as uranium were released from custody.

The seizure alarmed intelligence agencies around the world when the Turkish police said it weighed 35 pounds last week. On Monday, police said the material weighed only 5 ounces.

The disparity occurred because authorities initially included the weight of the lead container in which the material was placed, police said.
 
Arun V said:



1.) Uranium is very rare to begin with..unlike cocaine that can be grown

2.) Weapons grade plutonium is even rarer

3.) the VAST majority of underground sales of uranium or fissile material turn out to be frauds.

Yes, but it only takes one time for it to get into the wrong hands. So in this case, the VAST majority won't cut it because the one time a real sale does happen, tens of thousands could lose their lives.
 
nbcrusader said:
I was sure that the Uranium was for Saddam's state of the art baby milk factory!

No,no no. He make use of the Nuclear dust, that came frome the plutonium enhanced bombshells, for his factory.
 
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1) What about the missile parts?

2) So who is responsible for the manufacturing of this foul? Turkish plus intelligence officials? I mean does anyone believe that you can accidentially weigh the 235 with the packaging? Come on. This smells of...

3) Above without denying that smuggles like that can happen just about every day. Who knows how many kilos of 235 are already waiting in Baghdad.
 
15 ,7Kg Uranium found..
oh no wait, just 150 grams (The container wasn't solid uranium, just 150 grams inside)
oh no wait it was no Uranium at all (not even radioactive)

maybe because of the war someone posted informations to the medias to early?

But stories like that sell verry good in critical times like these.

since 1993 Turkey couldn't find Uran in a quality which is neccessary for Atomic bombs on all cases of Uran-smuggle

Klaus
 
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