Turkey has foiled a plot to smuggle nuclear material from the former Soviet Union, Middle East News Online (MENL) reported.
Authorities were quoted by the agency as saying that they seized 23 grams of nuclear material worth $2.3 million from Azerbaijan in a raid of a smuggling operation, and sent them for tests.
According to MENL, the operation was run by Russian nationals and three of them have been detained in Istanbul.
Customs officials identified the seized material as Osmium-187, used in the manufacture of long-range artillery barrels.
The Anatolia news agency quoted an announcement by the Istanbul Customs Directorate as saying that those detained said they were agents for a Russian nuclear smuggling ring.
Western intelligence services said Istanbul is one of several transit points for nuclear material coming from the former Soviet Union. Much of that material is believed sent to the Middle East, it added.
In Washington, Deputy CIA director John McLaughlin said North Korea has one or two nuclear bombs and could be secretly continuing nuclear development. The CIA assessment is based on missing plutonium from North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility, frozen by an agreement in 1994 – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
