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Marlboro Pack Sheds Light on Nuclear Smuggling
From The Associated PressEarly one morning in March, two Armenians slipped aboard a train in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, unaware that they were being watched. They removed a pack of Marlboro Reds hidden in a maintenance box between two cars. Inside the pack, Georgian authorities say, was nuclear bomb-grade uranium, encased in lead. Before long, Georgian officials seized the uranium and arrested the men, breaking up a ring they say was willing to sell material for nuclear weapons to any bidder. International officials see the operation as one victory in the effort to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into terrorists hands. The seizure was reported in April, but few details were disclosed. The Associated Press now has obtained more information from Georgian officials about an operation involving international smugglers and undercover agents. Some elements were confirmed by UN and U.S. officials. Georgian police tailed the taxi. The men got out near a hotel and began casing the deserted street. They appeared concerned they were being watched. The men then met the train from Yerevan, the Armenian capital, and picked up the cigarette pack containing the uranium. During interrogations, the men would explain they had boarded the train in Yerevan, stashed the uranium and got off before the border crossing. Authorities had not anticipated the uranium would cross the border separately from the smugglers. So the uranium moved unaccompanied and unsecured for hours until the men picked it up at the station. Tonoyan switched the meeting place to the hotel he had cased. He met the undercover buyer in a room. When the men pulled out the sample, a radiation detection device hidden on the undercover agent went off. He said a code word. Agents listening in burst in with a commando team. The uranium was only 18 grams, less than an ounce. But it had been highly enriched, to almost 90 percent, high enough for use in a nuclear weapon. It did not pose a radiological risk to anyone who came upon it in transit. Posted by: Sherry 2010-11-09 |
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