Russians stop Iranian truck hauling nuke material
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, April 4, 2000
MOSCOW -- An Iranian truck that contained nuclear material was seized
along the border with Kazakhstan.
Russian sources said the truck driven by an Iranian national carried 10
containers of nuclear material when it was stopped along the border of
Kazakhstan and Uzbekhistan. The sources said the truck was headed for
Pakistan.
The Russian Itar-Tass agency confirmed the attempted smuggling of the
nuclear material. They quoted Kazakh sources as saying a probe was launched
but did not provide details.
The truck was stopped by Uzbek security officers. They said the trailer,
which was manufactured in Iran, arrived from Kazakhstan. Documents in the
truck identified the addressee as a Pakistan firm in the town of Quetta.
Uzbek sources said the Iranian driver carried documents that the truck
was carrying stainless steel and that the shipment did not emit radiation.
Customs officers stopped the truck after their equipment registered that the
vehicle emitted 100 times more radiation than the approved level.
The sources said the trailer was returned to Kazakhstan on Saturday
night.
U.S. officials said Iran has tried to smuggle nuclear material from
Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, U.S.
intelligence suspected that two nuclear bombs were smuggled from Kazakhstan
to Teheran.
Tuesday, April 4, 2000
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