VIENNA, Thursday -- AUSTRIAN police have arrested a Briton and an
Austrian for smuggling 110lbs of uranium capable of being used to make a
nuclear bomb, police said today.
A police spokesman at Bregenz, near the West German border, declined
to name the two men. No charges had yet been made.
An Austrian television report said it was low-grade uranium -- worth
about #1.8m. Uranium requires enrichment by special processing to
weapons grade, but this amount could still pose a threat in the hands of
terrorists.
Another report today said one of the men involved was a 44-year-old
British resident of South Africa, identified only as Peter W.
Police said the two men were seized in a local hotel after a tip-off
from West Germany. ''We think the uranium came from South Africa and was
on its way to West Germany,'' a spokesman said.
The two men had travelled to Austria from Athens via Zurich. ''They
carried the uranium in nylon travel bags,'' the police spokesman said.
''There is not much danger of radiation but the material is in a powder
form which makes it dangerous to inhale.''
The spokesman said the uranium would have needed reprocessing to be
used in a bomb or as nuclear fuel.--Reuter
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