Russian Smuggler Busted With Weapon-Grade Uranium

Georgian authorities thwarted a significant nuclear smuggling effort about one year ago, arresting a man who tried to sell undercover agents 100 grams of weapon-grade uranium, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 3).

The suspect, a Russian named Oleg Khinsagov, delivered the sample expecting to be paid $1 million.  He purported to be able to deliver two to three kilograms of similar uranium. 

U.S. testing of the confiscated sample showed that it contained nearly 90 percent uranium 235, a weapon-grade concentration, according to the Times.

Khinsagov was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison after a secret trial that followed his arrest.  His smuggling efforts were detected after he came in contact with four Georgians who were under surveillance.  The four made arrangements to move the material from Russia to Georgia, and security services were able to set up a false buyer who said he was working for a Muslim man from “a serious organization.”

Khinsagov and some of the other smugglers were arrested trying to close the deal Feb. 1, 2006, in a Tblisi apartment, the Times reported.

The uranium probably came from a Russian facility, according to an analysis by a U.S. nuclear laboratory.

The Khinsagov arrest follows a 2003 incident in which an Armenian man was found with 170 grams of highly enriched uranium in a village near the Georgia’s border with Armenia and Azerbaijan.  Georgian authorities said the smuggler admitted that the material had come from Russia (see GSN, Dec. 1, 2003).

The two cases indicate that instability and corruption mean the region remains a prime location for nuclear smuggling, according to the Times.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to release more information on the incident tomorrow (Sheets/Broad, New York Times, Jan. 25).

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