Security officers at Heathrow Airport in England seized a package whose contents could have caused enormous damage.
The revelations come from Sun and have something to send shivers down your spine. According to the British tabloid, the English authorities have just confirmed the arrest of a man who, in his luggage, carried a small dose of uranium. Aged around 60 and of British nationality, the man in question was arrested as part of an investigation by the counter-terrorism services and is currently free on bail until April. It was on December 29 that the scanners at the airport rang as a small dose of this radioactive substance passed through the warehouse. The authorities believe that the package comes from pakistan then was sent to Oman before ending up on a plane to England.
After being identified, the man was quickly apprehended at his home in Cheshire this January 14 for possession of radioactive material with the intention of using it in a terrorist act. Chief of Police Richard Smith, however, is keen to avoid a general panic: “The discovery of a very small quantity of uranium in a package at Heathrow airport is obviously worrying, but it shows the effectiveness of the procedures and checks in place with our partners to detect this type of substance. (…) I want to be clear that despite this arrest, and with the information we have, this incident still does not seem to be linked to a direct threat to the public.
Manufacturing plans for a dirty bomb?
The police chief has confirmed that The investigation is still ongoing in order to be able to say with certainty that the small dose of uranium found at the airport poses no threat. It is possible that the radioactive substance was intended to enter into the composition of a “dirty bomb”, a bomb whose purpose is to disperse radioactive substances around the blast area. According to nuclear defense expert Hamish De Bretton-Gordon, “uranium can emit high levels of radioactivity, and can be used in dirty bombs. The good news is that the system is working and the package has been intercepted.”