Article

2003-06-13 Southeast Asia

Thai Police Seize Smuggled Radioactive Material

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Posted by Steve 2003-06-13 09:02 am|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#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|| 2003-06-13 09:25:17|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2003-06-13 11:53:07|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2003-06-13 12:35:04|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2003-06-13 15:19:58|| Front Page Top

#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|| 2003-06-13 15:41:21|| Front Page Top

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