Nuclear Proliferation

[MJ]

Turkish Police Seize Weapons-Grade Uranium

Sat Sep 28,10:27 AM ET

 

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.

 

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20020928/t/1033226818.2147950638.jpg [Reuters Photo]

 

 

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 ( news - web sites).

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 ( news - web sites) 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.

 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ey_uranium_dc_3

[MosJan]

hetaqrqire inchpoes en karroratsel n@karel iyn / yete ches sxalvum photo n@kari depqum uranyumi bats torats/ nerartadrats radioactiv gortsov@ film@ amborjovin sharqits hanum e / isk sa gunavor mi n@kar e /

 

isk iyd himmar2 vor iyd qanakutyamb uranum e terapoxum / iren chi tvum vor ir kyanqits mi qani tary yet voch mi qani tasnyak tariner pakasetsin / tekuz yev arjiji mej er pahvats sakayn ir azdetsutyun@ n@ra vra torats klini kartsum em.

[Sip]

Mos, have you heard of Digital Camera

 

Bayts shat huysov em vor drank hatuk "body cavity" nerov en pordzel ed Uraniume deghapoxen

[joseph]

Remember the " Gulf of Tonkin " incident before we atack Vietnam ,i wnt be surprised if we hear next that the uranium was going to irak i think the turks are helping the United States war propoganda.

[MJ]

Before starting to develop conspiracy theories, It would be good to read the update below:

 

Turkish Police Say Seized Uranium Weighs 5 Ounces

Sun Sep 29,12:33 PM ET

 

DIYARBAKIR (Reuters) - A Turkish police official said on Sunday the amount of uranium recently seized by officers was around 5 ounces and did not weigh 33 lbs as initially reported.

 

The state-run Anatolian news agency on Saturday reported that paramilitary police in the southern province of Sanliurfa detained two men after discovering 15 kg of uranium in a lead container hidden beneath a taxi car seat.

 

But that amount had included the weight of the container and the radioactive material was actually around 140 grams, an official from the gendarmes force in Sanliurfa said on condition of anonymity.

 

The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna was also skeptical because the amount previously reported would have been enough to make a nuclear bomb, spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told Reuters on Sunday.

 

The Turkish official said the weapons-grade uranium was seized on Friday after police stopped the vehicle on a road in Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 155 miles from the Iraqi border.

 

The incident comes at a time of heightened tension between the United States and Iraq, accused by Washington of developing weapons of mass destruction.

 

President Bush ( news - web sites) claims Baghdad has tried to acquire uranium to develop a nuclear bomb as his administration works to build international support for a military operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites).

 

The IAEA also questioned the contents because the word uranium was spelled in a strange way on the container, which itself was made in West Germany, Fleming said.

 

"We have no primary information and are trying to verify the contents of the object but it's very suspicious," she said.

 

The Anatolian agency on Sunday quoted Sanliurfa's provincial governor Muzaffer Dilek as saying experts had yet to determine the amount of uranium but that intelligence agents believed it only weighed about 100 grams.

 

Dilek also said police charged the two men in connection with the case but released them pending trial.

 

"These people said they believe that what was given to them was medical material," he said, adding police were now looking for two other suspects.

 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ey_uranium_dc_1

[MJ]

Turkey Says Seized Substance Not Uranium

Tue Oct 1, 8:25 AM ET

By Mehmet Emin Caliskan

 

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish scientists said on Tuesday the substance at the center of a nuclear weapons scare was not uranium and that the material seized in the south of the country posed no threat.

 

Turkish police said over the weekend they had seized 33 lbs of weapons-grade uranium in a taxi about 155 miles from the border with Iraq, facing possible U.S. military action over its alleged program of weapons of mass destruction.

 

Officials said later the amount had in fact been about five ounces. The difference was explained by the weight of the metal container holding the material.

 

Scientists at Turkey's Nuclear Research and Training Center on the outskirts of Istanbul said on Tuesday the substance was not uranium and was not radioactive.

 

"It is a powder of zinc, manganese, iron and zirconium," Guler Koksal, director of the research facility told Reuters. "It is not radioactive, it is not chemical and it is not explosive."

 

Suspicions had been aroused by the words "primarily youranuom" written on the outside of the metal tube in which the sandy powder was stored in a glass vial.

 

"It doesn't mean anything," Koksal said, calling it "a very big mistake" for officials to have declared the substance weapons-grade uranium without proper checks.

 

President Bush ( news - web sites) says Baghdad has tried to acquire uranium to develop a nuclear bomb. The Bush administration is working to build international support for a military operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ( news - web sites).

 

Iraq denies it has weapons of mass destruction.

 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...ey_uranium_dc_2

[Twilight Bark]

Either that, or the material is sitting safely in a government facility, waiting to be assembled into the first Turkish atomic bomb.

 

I thought I would start a nice little conspiracy theory for those with excess disposable time.