Planning to use nukes on our troops?
Three arrested over uranium 'sample'
Paris: French police have "discreetly" arrested three people and seized five grams of 80 per cent-enriched uranium 235 (U-235) in Paris, the weekly Journal du Dimanche reported.
The newspaper said a French former prisoner, Serge Salfati, had been arrested last week along with two Cameroonians, Yves Ekwella and Raymond Lobe. The latter were suspected of being the brains behind a trafficking arrangement based in eastern Europe.
Quoting American sources, the paper said the seized uranium was believed to have been a sample aimed at eliciting the interest of potential customers such as Iran, Iraq or North Korea or suspected terrorists such as Osama bin Laden.
"At least 10 kilograms of 80 per cent-enriched U-235 is needed to make an atomic bomb," it said, quoting an expert from the Atomic Energy Commission who authenticated the seizure and is trying to determine its origin. The paper said the seizure was a first as previous seizures had only been of radioactive waste.
The U-235 was in a glass container, itself inside a lead cylinder, and its origin could not be known until the energy commission had carried out analyses, the Journal du Dimanche said.
Enriched U-235 can be used in nuclear fission and is used to make nuclear warheads.
Agence France-Presse