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Teams Search For Nuclear Trail |
STOLEN RUSSIAN URANIUM HUNTED IN PARIS |
Cold
War Arsenal Leftovers Showing Up All Around Europe |
By Shelton Hall
Hard police work and sheer luck have lead investigators onto the trail of stolen Russian nuclear material. The disintegration of the former Soviet Unionopened the doors of oppurtunity to various nefarious agents who seek profit in nuclear proliferation. With the rising threat of Muslim fundamentalists who wish to destroy Western democracies, atomic material smuggling has suddenly become a major threat. This danger has been brought to the forefront of Western concerns by the recent arrests of two nuclear material smuggling rings.
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On March 7, police in Bonn,
West Germany intercepted two Polish nationals who were attempting to sell
over 2 kilograms of highly-enriched Uranium Dioxide-238, the essential
radioactive bomb-making material. One of those arrested had been a former
member of the Communist military police. His access to Soviet nuclear
material is not thought to have been unique. As republics shear away from
the Cold War tyranny which held them in bondage, rigid control structures
have disappeared and thus allowed people with knowledge and access to
divert nuclear materials away from supervision. |
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The former Soviet Union had over 30,000 nuclear warheads, many of them tactical weapons such as nuclear land mines and nuclear artillery shells so small that they could be easily hidden in the trunk of a car. This frightening example of the simplicity in acquiring nuclear bomb material was duplicated less than a week later when two other Polish nationals were caught attempting to sell another two kilos of uranium to an undercover police officer in Warsaw. They were promptly arrested and the material confiscated.
However, this recent rush to sell former Soviet uranium has shown the Western
powers just how vulnerable they are to the threat of nuclear proliferation.
This heightened fear has lead various Western governments to assign special
crack investigative teams to hunt down any rumours of nuclear material clandestinely
available for purchase.
Paris, long-known as a center for international arms smuggling, is especially
keen to such goings on. With noted international arms dealers regularly passing
through town, security forces must remain constantly on guard. Although these
reports cannot be confirmed, informed sources have told us that there are ongoing
investigations into all reports of uranium smuggling. Fears that Paris could
become a way-station for the shipment of uranium require that survaillence be
maintained so that the general population will not be at risk.
Uranium and plutonium are deadly even in powdered form if inhaled or the radiation absorbed. The simple-to-make "dirty bomb" would use these material to contaminate large areas of crowded urban population centers, causing economic upheavals and social panic.
We wish to repeat at this point that absolutely no
uranium is reported to have been found in Paris. There exists at this time no
known threat to public safety.
Nuclear technicians have, however, been sighted in Paris. It is hoped that any
material which might be uncovered can be safely confiscated before it reaches
the hands of hostile governments or terrorist organizations.(See photo above).
Another startling revelation was disclosed by a former member of a conservative think-tank.
The source said it is believed that at the height of the Cold War the Soviets
smuggled, as diplomatic baggage, small nuclear warheads into their embassies
in foreign capitals. Such shipments, protected under diplomatic immunity from
search, would allow the destruction of a city without telltale signs of a delivery
system such as incoming missile or bomber. It was not possible to confirm this
story, as the matter is deemed‘secret’.