Abstract:

French police arrested three suspects in Paris and seized five grams of uranium enriched to 80% U-235, Le Figaro reported on 23 July 2001. The three suspects included one French citizen, Serge Salfati, and two citizens of Cameroon, Yves Ekwella and Raymond Lobe.  Police discovered the uranium in the course of an unrelated investigation into a financial scam by Salfati.  According to a report in Nucleonics Week, while conducting surveillance of Salfati, agents of the French Research and Financial Investigations Squad learned that he was offering uranium to potential buyers.[1] A subsequent inspection of the Ekwalla's van and clothes by specialists from the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) revealed an elevated level of radioactivity. The uranium was then found in a glass ampule contained in a larger lead cylinder.  A later search of Salfati's apartment uncovered several plane tickets to Eastern European countries [the article does not specify the countries] and "documents of analyses of nuclear products written in Cyrillic, which gives reason for suspecting an origin in Russia or a country of the East."  However, the origin of the uranium remains unclear. The uranium was sent to the CEA for analysis, reported Le Figaro, which may help determine the source of the material. The paper added, however, that the Paris police and the French Ministry of the Interior declined to comment on the case when questioned by reporters.  The article concluded that the seized uranium, because of its high enrichment level, "is not civil uranium."  Nucleonics Week reported on 26 July that French police do not know whether the uranium was being used by the suspects as part of a scam, or if it is a sample from a larger stock of similar material.[1] Uranium enriched to 80% U-235, noted Nucleonics Week, can only be produced at a few plants worldwide, and is used in some research reactor fuel and in nuclear weapons.[1]  Experts said that such a small amount of material could be used for terrorist purposes, but that about 10kg would be needed to construct a nuclear explosive device. [1]

Abstract Number :  20010310
Headline:  Five Grams HEU Seized in Paris
Date:  23 July 2001
Bibliography:   FBIS Document EUP20010723000399
Author:   Tanguy Berthemet and Michele Bietry
Orig. Src.:   Le Figaro (Paris), 23 July 2001
Material:   HEU

[1] "Police Nab Three Suspects in France's First U-235 Smuggling," Nucleonics Week, 26 July 2001.