Smugglers Caught with Nuke Material Meant for ISIS
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Source: CBN News
Nuclear smugglers in Eastern Europe have been caught trying to sell radioactive material to Islamic State terrorists.
Intense police videos show the smugglers being
caught in several sting operations in Moldova, a small country to the
west of Ukraine.
For several years, police have been working to
capture them, arresting them with materials that could have been used to
create a nuclear "dirty bomb."
"We are very concerned by these different incidents
of terrorists trying to acquire either nuclear or radiological material.
We know that the threat is real," said Andrew Bieniawski, head of the
Nuclear Threat Initiative.
The smuggling gangs have Russian ties. An exclusive Associated Press
investigation reveals they have been shopping their radioactive
material across Eastern Europe where there's a thriving black market in
nuclear materials.
In February, one smuggler was looking to sell radioactive cesium to a buyer from the Islamic State.
"If terrorists acquire HEU (highly enriched
uranium), they will essentially have overcome one of the most difficult
obstacles on the pathway to make what we call an improvised nuclear
device, or an IND," Bieniawski said.
So far, European authorities working with the FBI have thwarted four attempts by the gangs to sell the radioactive material.