India - 2 held with weapons-grade uranium in Bareilly

Times of India ^ | February 5, 2005

[HAL9000]

BAREILLY: Cops at Izzatnagar police station here could hardly believe their ears when a duo they had detained on the suspicion of being small-time drug peddlers said that the thick-taped plates recovered from them contained radioactive uranium.

The metal plates were recovered from Khurshid and Aslam on December 8. The plates were in a lead-lined sophisticated metal box. The sceptical cops booked the two for possession of opium and, almost as an afterthought, sent the metal to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai for examination.

Jaws of the police brass fell when the BARC report stated that the 253.6 gram of dense gray metal was 99 per cent uranium by weight. The significance of this was stunning: the technology for making atom bomb is readily available, what’s not is enriched uranium as it can only be processed by state-owned sophisticated facilities.

Naturally, the discovery has now triggered a huge investigation by Central and state investigative agencies to get to the bottom of the mystery. How did the nondescript duo get hold of weapons-grade uranium? And where was it headed?

When asked by TOI, senior police sources didn’t rule out the possibility of the uranium having come from the Narora atomic facility in Bulandshahr district. The CISF senior commandant at Narora Atomic Power Station has written to the Bareilly SSP for information about the recovered matter.

Intriguingly, a list naming substances with specific industrial use was recovered from the two arrested persons.

Unfortunately for investigators, the initial delay meant that the man named by Khurshid and Aslam as the supplier of the metal, a Nagpur-based scrap dealer by the colourful name of Mahboob Bhai Germanwale, had died in the interim period.

Izzatnagar house officer R R Mishra feels that the duo could be tossing up a red herring by naming Germanwale. "In any case, how were we expected to believe that the metal carried by these apparent small-timers could help make a nuclear bomb?"

[endthematrix]

Doesn't surprise me. We are on borrowed time regarding this.

[GeronL]

wow... not even breaking news... probably ignored by our media too

[DB]

It is only a matter of time.

The real questions are when and where.

[Manic_Episode]

Mahboob!

[highpockets]

December 8th, 2004 they are detained, by Febuary 2nd, 2005 the name they ratted up on is dead.

Why no information on how or why?

Wonder who or what caused his death, they must be suspicious.

I hope Homeland Security is all over this.

What with all of the intense scrutiny for known Al Queada and their associates, perhaps they have started using non-believers who are just looking for a buck, dumb run of the mill crooks.

[clee1]

Yep; when and where.

When is ASAP; where is obvious: NYC or DC

[indcons]

"Khurshid and Aslam" - Religion of Peace adherents at work!!

[sd-joe]

As usual the news stories leave out really important details.

The story states: "the 253.6 gram of dense gray metal was 99 per cent uranium by weight".

Later they talk about "weapons-grade" uranium, but they never explicitly say that what was found was "weapons-grade".

Metal that is 99 per cent uranium could be "depleted uranium" for all we know.

[genefromjersey]

If you are "lucky",badly soiled underwear,and a "suntan" that REALLY won't quit.

[Sender]

If you're a rural red-stater, what you'll have is serious disruptions of normal things like food and gas deliveries, banking processes, maybe your job, maybe loss of utilities, especially electricity for awhile.

If you're an urban blue-stater, you may have more immediate concerns if you're not in the actual blast. Your most important concern is having at least one rural red-stater who is still your friend.

[JasonC]

Quite. It was almost certainly not WG uranium, it was probably almost entirely U-238. The story writer probably is confused about chemical vs. isotopic composition. Refining uranium out of ore results in chemically pure uranium metal, perhaps 1% traces of other stuff left as described in the article. But enrichment is separating out the U-235 - barely 1% of natural uranium samples - from the majority of U-238. U-238 is much more stable, with an order of magnitude longer half life (4 billion years).

[Qaz_W]

It was neither 99 per cent uranium nor weapons grade.

Merely a case of over enthusiastic reporting.

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board ( AERB )tested the material and found it to contain 0.21% U 235.

See this link :

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1229801,000600010004.htm

[sd-joe]

Yep. Depleted Uranium, just like I thought.

You just can not depend on the press to get things right.

Thank goodness for Freepers and Bloggers.

[sd-joe]

By the way, thanks for finding this correction.

[Gengis Khan]

For those dont know....Khurshid, Aslam, Mahboob Bhai Germanwale are all Muslims. Can make out from their names. The press will never report the fact that they all belong to "the religion of peace".