Police arrest two Slovaks trying to sell suspected low-enriched uranium

Police have arrested two Slovak men as they attempted to sell a large amount of radioactive material in a Brno hotel. The two, from the Slovak town of Presov, were detained in a sting operation at Brno's Voronez hotel while trying to sell three kilograms of the material, which has yet to be identified. They have been charged and taken into custody. The National Institute for Nuclear Safety says it was the largest seizure of radioactive material anywhere in the world for the last nine months. The head of the Institute, Dana Drabova, said it was almost certain that the material could not have been used for the production of nuclear weapons. She said the material was most probably low-enriched uranium smuggled from the former Soviet bloc. The Institute is analysing the substance and should know more by Thursday.

Author: Rob Cameron