Uranium Package Headed for Iranians Found Embedded in Metal Bars at UK’s Heathrow Airport
Edited by: Fern Sidman
On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that British counterterrorism police are investigating after border officers seized cargo contaminated with uranium at London’s Heathrow Airport.
The Metropolitan Police force said that “a very small amount of contaminated material was identified after routine screening within a package incoming to the U.K.” on December 29th, as was reported by the AP.
Uranium is widely used to produce nuclear energy and is generally seen as deadly, according to a report in the Hindustan Times. Experts have reportedly assessed the amount of uranium discovered as “posing no threat to the public.” The uranium was ‘not weapons-grade’ and so could not be used to manufacture a thermo-nuclear weapon, reports said, according to the Hindustan Times.
The matter is under investigation and no arrests have been made so far.
“We can confirm officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were contacted by Border Force colleagues at Heathrow after a very small amount of contaminated material was identified after routine screening within a package incoming to the UK on 29 December 2022,” the police was quoted as telling MailOnline, a local media agency.
It said the force’s Counterterrorism Command is investigating. There have been no arrests.
The BBC reported that the uranium was in a shipment of scrap metal. The AP reported that The Sun of the UK which first reported the story, said the shipment originated in Pakistan and arrived on a flight from Oman.
Speaking to The Sun of the UK, an unidentified Heathrow source told the paper, “The race is on to trace everyone involved. Security bosses are treating this with the seriousness it deserves. Protocol was not followed and this is now an anti-terror operation. There are real concerns over what the Iranians living here wanted with non-disclosed nuclear material,” the source added. The shipment has triggered fears that a dirty bomb, a mixture made of explosives and radioactive material, was being built in Britain.
The Guardian of the UK reported that Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the former head of the British army’s chemical weapons unit, said he believed only trace amounts of uranium had been discovered and that it was unclear – “a million-dollar question” – what it could have been for.
But the weapons expert said the public should not be concerned, not least because it was detected once it had arrived in the UK. “The system worked,” he added, as was reported by the Guardian.
Police Commander Richard Smith said the amount of contaminated material was “extremely small and has been assessed by experts as posing no threat to the public.” The AP reported that he also said it “does not appear to be linked to any direct threat,” but the investigation continues.
“We will of course, follow every avenue to see what the background to this was and satisfy ourselves that there’s no further threat,” he added.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman declined to offer comment to the AP on an ongoing police operation.
Two weeks ago, the Jewish Voice reported that Iran is “days or weeks” away from enriching uranium to the 90% military grade level required for the production of nuclear weapons and Israel should prepare for a significant attack on the rogue country, a former top official with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency warned, according to a report in the Washington Times.
Zohar Palti, a former intelligence director with Mossad, who recently retired from a 40-year career in Israel’s security establishment, said Israel’s military, has the capability to launch a successful strike on Iran’s nuclear plants. He noted that receiving American permission to conduct an attack on Iran would not be necessary considering the severity of the circumstances but that Israeli government officials and defense experts will have to make “serious decisions” in the near future.
“One of the things that the Americans appreciate most is our ability to make our own decisions, to ensure our security,” he added, referencing Israeli strikes on nuclear facilities in Syria and Iraq that it had carried out alone without active American support, as was reported by the Times of Israel.
Speaking to Times of Israel political correspondent Tal Schneider at an event in Ramat Hasharon, Palti said Iran “is at a more advanced level than I can ever remember when it comes to uranium enrichment.”
“They are days or weeks away from enriching uranium to 90 percent, which is military-grade,” he said.
While speaking at the event that was hosted by The Times of Israel, Palti said, “I’m not implying that Israel is capable. I’m saying it is.” He acknowledged that enriching uranium to the 90% level doesn’t mean Iran is immediately able to construct a nuclear weapon “but, it’s very bad and we’ve never been closer to it.”
