BND Official: Plutonium From Russian Plants

Oct. 11, 1996

Abstract:

At a hearing of the Bundestag plutonium investigation committee in Bonn, First Director of the BND Wolbert Schmidt testified that an 'Eastern source' had provided information in September 1994 regarding the origin of the 400 grams of plutonium seized in Munich in August 1994. According to the source, the plutonium is either from the Obninsk Institute of Physics and Power Engineering (IPPE) or from the nuclear city Tomsk (Tomsk-7 or SKHK). The source also provided information on the individuals who initially supplied the material to Justiniano Torres (who was convicted for smuggling the material to Munich on a Lufthansa plane), and said that several individuals in Russia had been arrested following the incident after nuclear materials were found in their apartments. Mr. Schmidt, who is responsible for intelligence activities in the East, refused to identify his source.

Abstract Number: 19961970
Headline: BND Official: Plutonium From Russian Plants
Date: 11 October 1996
Bibliography: FBIS-WEU-96-200, 11 October 1996
Orig. Src.: Sueddeutshe Zeitung
Case: Munich
Material: plutonium

This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, or agents. Copyright © 2011 by MIIS.

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This article is part of a collection examining reported incidents of nuclear or radioactive materials trafficking in or originating from the Newly Independent States.