Georgia arrests two in $3-million uranium smuggling plot
Georgia’s security services have arrested a Georgian and a Turkish national accused of attempting to sell $3 million worth of uranium capable of being used in a bomb, officials said Thursday.
The pair were arrested in the Black Sea city of Batumi and charged with the illegal purchase, possession, and disposal of radioactive substances. They could face up to 10 years imprisonment.
"The citizen of Georgia illegally purchased and stored the radioactive substance uranium... [and] tried to sell the mentioned nuclear material to the Turkish citizen for $3 million," Georgia’s prosecutor general said.
The State Security Service said the uranium could have caused “mass fatalities” and that the operation had prevented a “transnational crime.”
Last month, a former top UN nuclear official told Eye for Iran that a nuclear Iran is still possible despite US and Israeli strikes on key nuclear sites as the whereabouts of Tehran's near-weapons grade uranium remains unknown.
Around 400 kilograms—more than 900 pounds—of uranium enriched to 60% purity is unaccounted for and now with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) barred from the country, it is unsure if the location can ever be known.
