| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Thai Police Seize Smuggled Radioactive Material |
| 2003-06-13 |
| Thai police, tipped off by U.S. customs agents, said on Friday they had arrested a Thai national with 66 lb of radioactive caesium-137, possibly intended for use in militant attacks, perhaps in the form of a dirty bomb. Officials said the suspect had confessed to smuggling the cesium, a common radioactive substance, from neighboring Laos. They said it was believed to have originated in Russia. Story from the Guardian, 25 June 2002: A large number of mobile irradiation units, each containing a deadly amount of radioactive dust, are feared missing in the former Soviet Union, according to atomic security experts. The units, built by the Soviet government in the 1970s to stop maize germinating, hold eight to 10 thin tubes of the highly radioactive caesium-137. US officials fear terrorists could create a dirty bomb using a radioactive material such as caesium-137 in combination with conventional explosives. The resulting explosion could cover a large area with radioactive dust and contaminate thousands of people. "It could be deadly if it got into the hands of terrorists. We have heard reports that terrorists were planning attacks on embassies in Thailand," Deputy National Police Chief Sombat Amornvivat told reporters. Narong Penanam, 47, was arrested in a sting operation in a Bangkok hotel parking lot and charged with illegal possession of a radioactive substance, police said. The arrest comes after Cambodia charged a fourth suspected Muslim militant on Thursday and police in Thailand said they were hunting for a man they believe to be the bomb-maker for a cell of Muslim militants plotting attacks on embassies and beach resorts. Another Thai police officer said: "The cesium is normally used in industrial work, but could be used in a dirty bomb." A dirty bomb is essentially made of conventional explosive and salted with radioactive isotopes so as to spew the nuclear material over a wide area and contaminate it. Such bombs are easier to build than nuclear bombs. A U.S. customs official in Bangkok told reporters undercover agents had tipped off U.S. authorities that there would be sales of radioactive material in Thailand to militants. "It is obvious that this person wanted to sell the substance to terrorists for sabotage in Thailand," an embassy translator quoted him as saying. "This substance alone could be combined with other substances to create an explosion and it could spread radioactivity." Police Colonel Chatchai Liamsanguan told Reuters, "U.S. Customs officials have asked the Thai police to investigate possible uranium trading in Thailand. "They were afraid that uranium, which could be used in making nuclear bombs, would be sold to terrorist groups in Iraq or North Korea." Thai police responsible for Friday's sting had expected to find uranium, but found cesium instead. That's two captures of radioactive material in one day. We have been lucky so far, but I'm afraid it's only a matter of time. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 The Borg are trying to build a nuke red alert all hands to battlestations serious, as soon as I saw the article about the Bangladeshi Islamofascists with the uranium, I knew they'd all be trying to do it. They have a hive mind I tell ya. |
| Posted by: Anon1 2003-06-13 15:41:21 |
| #4 More details from Bangkok Post: Thai and US officials yesterday arrested a suspected illegal arms dealer in Bangkok with 30 kilogrammes of a radioactive material that could be used to make a ``dirty bomb''. They acted on a tip from an unidentified Thai spy working for the US embassy that the suspect, Narong Penanam, a Surin native, had offered to sell him uranium-235 and uranium-238 for 10 million baht for use in building bombs. The substance turned out to be cesium-137, a radioactive substance normally used in industries. However, it could be combined with some other materials to make a ``dirty bomb'' or with uranium to build an atomic bomb. Deputy police chief Sombat Amornvivat said the suspect was caught by a team of Crime Suppression police and US customs officers from the US embassy at the Royal Pacific hotel on Rama IX road around noon, allegedly while delivering the material to the spy. The team seized from him a metal box containing radioactive cesium-137, seven bank passbooks and a name card of a retired senior army commander. During police interrogation made in the presence of Gary Phillips, the US embassy's assistant customs attache, the suspect said the material was taken out of Russia to be kept in Laos. He acted as a broker for its owner, Theerasak Wattanakrai, said to be a close aide of a retired general identified only as Lt-Gen Chanak. The suspect said he was told the box contained 30kg of uranium, and he would be paid 1% of the 10 million baht. He said there was still an unknown amount of similar substance kept in Laos. The Thai spy said a group of soldiers of unknown nationality had stolen cesium-137 and several other radioactive materials during the fall of the Soviet Union and kept them at a military camp about 20km from the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge in Laos. He was told that the group still had 11 pieces of radioactive material weighing around 30kg-40kg each, and that one of them was uranium weighing 90 kg and priced at tens of million of baht. The spy said Mr Narong was part of a network of arms dealers who had tried to contact some terrorist groups to sell radioactive materials in its possession. A sting operation planned by the United States led to the shipment of cesium-137 into Thailand and the arrest of Mr Narong, said the spy. Mr Phillips said the suspect made it clear during the police interrogation that he wanted to sell the substance to a terrorist group for use in attacks on targets in Thailand. Manoon Aramrattana, deputy secretary-general of the Office of Atomic Energy for Peace, said the impounded cesium-137 was in the form of metal powder and contained in a double-layered metal case big enough to hold 10 cans of beer. This radioactive powder, which emits highly-penetrating gamma ray, is variously used in industries, such as in detecting iron density. Cesium-137, with higher intensity, could be used for cancer treatment but physicians now prefer cobalt-60 as cesium-137 powder could easily spread into the environment. Mr Manoon said the intensity of the impounded cesium-137 was measured at 75 millicuries, or around 10,000 times less than that of the cobalt-60 leakage in Samut Prakan province a few years ago. The isotope, with the half life of 30 years, could be used to make ``dirty bombs''. ``The impounded cesium-137 is not lethal to people exposed to it, but it can cause panic among the public,'' Mr Manoon said, adding that there could be more health risks from long-term exposure. I think a little trip to Laos is in order, although these guys have most likely bugged out by now. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-06-13 15:19:58 |
| #3 At the memorial service a the National Catherdral following Sepember 11, Rev. Billy Graham was asked if he thought there would be a war. He answered that yes he did and we should take what ever means to bring it to a swift conclusion. Even if that meant using Weapons of Mass distruction. If these morons step over the line Mecca should be toast and warn them before hand. Put the ball squarely in their corner. Any attack with WMD and it will happen. No ifs, no ands, no buts. It's long past time to stop f***ing around |
| Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire 2003-06-13 12:35:04 |
| #2 '...TWO CAPTURES OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL IN ONE DAY...' It's time to start the trials in Guantanamo, it's time to show that we will get all of them and that we will be nasty. |
| Posted by: Poitiers 2003-06-13 11:53:07 |
| #1 Such bombs are easier to build than nuclear bombs. You don't say. The poor man's nuclear weapon. The good thing is, these things are easy to detect. I hope. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-06-13 09:25:17 |