[Sunday Times-UK] Jon Swain, David Leppard, and Brian Johnson-Thomas - Iran is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb, a UN investigation has revealed. A July 18 report said there was "no doubt" that a huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238, uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania, was transported from the Lubumbashi mines in the Congo. Tanzanian customs officials said it was destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and was stopped on October 22 last year during a routine check. The Shinkolobwe uranium mine that produced the material in Lubumbashi, capital of mineral-rich Katanga province, has officially been closed since 1961, but UN investigators have told the Security Council they found evidence of illegal mining still going on at the site. It has also emerged that terror cells backed by Iran have been conducting reconnaissance at some nuclear power plants in Britain in preparation for a possible attack.
2006-08-09 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive