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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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