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Nuclear Materials Smugglers Could Be Using Central Asian Drug Trafficking Routes
Routes used in Central Asia for opium trafficking might also have become conduits for nuclear material, the Associated Press reported Saturday (see GSN, Dec. 10, 2004). Tajikistan is considered the most country in the region most likely to be used for nuclear smuggling, according to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. “We don’t know how much (radioactive material) is on the market, but we do know that access is the easiest and controls the poorest in Tajikistan,” said Dauren Aben, program coordinator at the center’s office in Kazakhstan. “Radioactive materials are easier to obtain, easier to assemble, easier to transport, easier to hide and easier to use — all of which would make it the weapon of choice for terrorists,” he said. “This is a real big security risk out of Central Asia because of the smuggling and trafficking routes in this region and the impossibility of protecting every square meter.” Moreover, the disappearance of radioactive material from facilities in Central Asia after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a “widespread phenomenon,” according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency has provided funding of $100,000 toward the search for lost or stolen radioactive materials in the region, said Jamshed Abdushukurov, a scientist at the Tajik government-run Institute of Physics and Engineering. In addition, Tajikistan established the Agency for Atomic Energy to inventory radioactive materials in 2000, according to AP. “We are determined to stop anything from crossing our borders, but it is not realistic to say we can completely close our borders,” said Igor Sattarov, chief of the Tajik Foreign Affairs Ministry’s information department. Due to the established drug routes and the lack of accurate intelligence, Interpol and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime see Central Asia as an expanding smuggling nexus. “It’s impossible to seal the borders. It just can’t be done. The law enforcement agencies have to be upgraded, have to share information,” said Bernard Frahi of the U.N. office (Kathy Gannon, Associated Press/Arizona Daily Star, April 2).
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