. . .at least for now, they think it's not uranium
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish scientists said on Tuesday the substance at the center of a nuclear weapons scare was not uranium and that the material seized in the south of the country posed no threat.
Turkish police said over the weekend they had seized 33 lbs of weapons-grade uranium in a taxi about 155 miles from the border with Iraq, facing possible U.S. military action over its alleged program of weapons of mass destruction.
Officials said later the amount had in fact been about five ounces. The difference was explained by the weight of the metal container holding the material.
Scientists at Turkey's Nuclear Research and Training Center on the outskirts of Istanbul said on Tuesday the substance was not uranium and was not radioactive.
``It is a powder of zinc, manganese, iron and zirconium,'' Guler Koksal, director of the research facility told Reuters. ``It is not radioactive, it is not chemical and it is not explosive.''
Suspicions had been aroused by the words ``primarily youranuom'' written on the outside of the metal tube in which the sandy powder was stored in a glass vial.
``It doesn't mean anything,'' Koksal said, calling it ``a very big mistake'' for officials to have declared the substance weapons-grade uranium without proper checks.
President Bush says Baghdad has tried to acquire uranium to develop a nuclear bomb. The Bush administration is working to build international support for a military operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Iraq denies it has weapons of mass destruction.
ANKARA, Turkey -- Atomic energy officials said Monday that a substance seized by police near the Syrian border was not weapons-grade uranium as Turkish officials first reported, according to the Anatolia news agency.
Atomic Energy Institute chief Guler Koksal said the material was harmless, containing zinc, iron, zirconium and manganese.
The announcement ended days of speculation that the substance might have been destined for neighboring Iraq, which the United States accuses of trying to smuggle in nuclear material for a secret weapons program.
Police, acting on a tip, recovered the material in a taxi last week in Sanliurfa province, near the Syrian border. Two Turks who were trying to sell the material as uranium were released from custody.
The seizure alarmed intelligence agencies around the world when the Turkish police said it weighed 35 pounds last week. On Monday, police said the material weighed only 5 ounces.
The disparity occurred because authorities initially included the weight of the lead container in which the material was placed, police said.
ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's Atomic Energy Institute said Monday that a substance seized by police near the Syrian border was not radioactive uranium as initially feared, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Institute chief Guler Koksal said the material was harmless and contained zinc, iron, zirconium and manganese.
The announcement ended days of speculation that the substance might have been destined for neighboring Iraq, which the United States accuses of trying to smuggle in nuclear material for its alleged secret weapons program.
Police, acting on a tip, recovered the material in a secret compartment of a taxi last week in Sanliurfa province, near the Syrian border. Two Turks who were trying to sell the material as uranium were released from custody.
The seizure alarmed intelligence agencies around the world when the Turkish police said it weighed 15.7 kilograms (35 pounds) last week. On Monday, police said the material in fact weighed only 140 grams (5 ounces).
The disparity occurred because authorities initially included the weight of the lead container in which the material was placed, police said.
Washington (PTI) -- The sensational story that Turkey had seized two men trying to smuggle 35 pounds of uranium, the largest yet captured from illegal hands, has turned out to be a case of mistaken weighing.
What was seized, it now appears, was 3 ounces of uranium, not 35 pounds. The 35-pound estimate came from the fact that the Turks weighed not just the uranium inside a container but the lead container as well.
Most of the reported weight was not that of the uranium but of the container!
Acting on a tip-off, Turkish police stopped a cab in the southern province of Sanliurfa that borders Syria and is about 155 miles from the Iraqi border and arrested two men on smuggling charges.
The lead container with uranium inside was hidden under a seat in the cab.
The seizure implied the radioactive material was bound to Iraq to enable Saddam Hussein build a nuclear bomb.
The initial report about the weight of the uranium gained credibility only because in 1998, the Turks had seized 10 pounds of unprocessed uranium and six grams of plutonium smuggled from the former Soviet Union.
Captured weapons-grade uranium is on display at the paramilitary police headquarters of the southeast province of Sanliurfa, Turkey, on Saturday.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Sept. 29 — A Turkish police official said on Sunday the amount of weapons-grade uranium recently seized by officers was around five ounces, and not 33 pounds, as initially reported.
THE STATE-RUN Anatolian news agency on Saturday reported that paramilitary police in the southern province of Sanliurfa detained two men after discovering 33 pounds of uranium in a lead container hidden beneath a taxi car seat.
But that amount had included the weight of the container and the radioactive material was actually around 140 grams, about five ounces, an official from the gendarmes force in Sanliurfa said on condition of anonymity.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna was also skeptical because the amount previously reported would have been enough to make a nuclear bomb, spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said Sunday.
The Turkish official said the uranium was seized on Friday after police stopped the vehicle on a road in Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 155 miles from the Iraqi border.
STRANGE SPELLING
The IAEA also questioned the contents because the word “uranium” was spelled in a strange way on the container, which itself was said to be made in West Germany, Fleming said.
“We have no primary information and are trying to verify the contents of the object but it’s very suspicious,” she said.
The Anatolian agency on Sunday quoted Sanliurfa’s provincial governor Muzaffer Dilek as saying experts had yet to determine the amount of uranium but that intelligence agents believed it only weighed about 100 grams.
Dilek also said police charged the two men in connection with the case but released them pending trial.
“These people said they believe that what was given to them was medical material,” he said, adding police were now looking for two other suspects.
The incident happens at a time of mounting speculation the United States could launch a military attack on neighboring Iraq for its alleged program of weapons of mass destruction.
President Bush has accused Baghdad of clandestine efforts to develop a nuclear bomb as his administration works to build international support for an operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
POROUS BORDERS
Smugglers use Turkey’s porous eastern border to import drugs, and hundreds of thousands of migrants each year illegally cross the rugged frontier on their way to more affluent European Union nations.
In November, police in Istanbul seized more than two pounds of weapons-grade uranium smuggled into Turkey from an Eastern European nation. The smugglers were detained after trying to sell the material to undercover police officers.
ANKARA, Turkey -- Paramilitary police have seized about 35 pounds of uranium and arrested two Turks who they said planned to sell the weapons-grade substance, the Anatolia news agency reported Saturday.
Police, acting on a tip, stopped a taxi on a highway near the southeastern city of Sanliurfa, Anatolia said. They found the uranium in a secret compartment under one of the car seats.
Police in Sanliurfa confirmed the arrests but refused to give further information.
Anatolia said the uranium was enriched for use in weapons. Police believe it was smuggled from an eastern European country.
The agency did not say when the arrests were made. Sanliurfa, some 480 miles from Ankara, is close to the Syrian border.
WACO, Texas - The United States reacted cautiously on Monday to reports that Turkish paramilitary police had seized about 5 ounces of weapons-grade uranium and detained two men accused of smuggling the material.
``We continue to evaluate the information,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters in Waco, as President Bush was returning to Washington after a weekend at his Texas ranch.
``I do not have at this time anything that is determinative about it,'' Fleischer said. ``Unless and until we have that, and we will, the administration is just going to monitor. ... I would just urge people not to leap to conclusions.''
Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency said on Saturday officers in the southern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 155 miles from the Iraqi border, were acting on a tip-off on Saturday when they stopped a taxi cab and discovered the uranium in a lead container hidden beneath the vehicle's seat, the agency said.
Atomic energy experts in Turkey have not yet determined the amount of the confiscated substance and whether it is in fact weapons-grade uranium, Anatolian said on Monday.
``The material said to be of a purity used in nuclear weapons has not yet reached the Nuclear Research and Training Center, where an analysis will be immediately conducted,'' the Atomic Energy Institute said in a statement carried by Anatolian.
The incident came at a time of mounting speculation that the United States could launch a military attack on neighboring Iraq for its alleged program of weapons of mass destruction.
Bush has accused Baghdad of clandestine efforts to develop a nuclear bomb as his administration works to build international support for an operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Turkish authorities believe the uranium may have come from an east European country.
ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish paramilitary police have seized more than 15 kg (33 lbs) of weapons-grade uranium.
Two men were detained and accused of smuggling the material, the state-run Anatolian news agency said on Saturday.
Officers in the southern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 250 km (155 miles) from the Iraqi border, acted on a tip-off.
They stopped a taxi cab and discovered the uranium in a lead container hidden beneath the vehicle's seat, the agency said.
The incident happens at a time of mounting speculation the United States could launch a military attack on neighbouring Iraq for its alleged programme of weapons of mass destruction.
U.S. President George Bush has accused Baghdad of clandestine efforts to develop a nuclear bomb as his administration works to build international support for an operation to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Officials at Ankara's Atomic Energy Institute would not confirm they had been notified about the material, which Anatolia had reported.
"Our investigation on whether the uranium was destined for a neighbouring country is continuing," a Sanliurfa police official was quoted as saying by Anatolian.
Police officials in Sanliurfa and Ankara declined to comment on the case.
Authorities believe the uranium came from an east European country and has a value of about $5 million, Anatolian said.
It was not immediately clear when the operation was carried out. Anatolian only gave the first names of the suspects, which appeared to be Turkish.
Smugglers use Turkey's porous eastern border to import drugs, and hundreds of thousands of migrants each year illegally cross the rugged frontier on their way to more affluent European Union nations.
Police in Istanbul seized more than one kg (2.2 lbs) of weapons-grade uranium last November that had been smuggled into Turkey from an east European nation.
The smugglers were detained after attempting to sell the material to undercover police officers.
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