Three Arrested in Kenya Attempting to Sell Uranium

Kenyan authorities arrested three men last week for attempting to sell what they claimed was uranium to two undercover police detectives, Nairobi’s Daily Nation reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 3).

The undercover officers posing as customers from Somalia arrested two of the three suspects Thursday at a bar. The third was apprehended Friday, according to the Nation.

The suspects — one Ethiopian and two Kenyan nationals — had offered 2 kilograms of uranium for slightly more than $2.6 million, but later attempted to make a deal for just under $300,000.

A Zairian national whom police are still pursuing is suspected of having smuggled the substance into the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Nation reported (see GSN, Nov. 10, 2004).

The head of the Nairobi provincial police, King'ori Mwangi, and antiterrorism authorities, however, said they remained doubtful of the substance’s authenticity.

The substance was taken to Kenyatta University for testing, according to police (Daily Nation/BBC Monitoring, June 28).

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