Advanced Search

Abstract:

A spokesman for the Georgian Ministry of State Security, Malkhaz Salakaya, announced that Georgian security service agents had arrested three suspects in Tbilisi and seized 5g of uranium and four containers with three grams of plutonium, Prime News reported on 16 September 2000.  ITAR-TASS reported the same day that the Georgian agents has seized 3.2g of "U-235 powder" [enrichment level unspecified] and "20 special containers, each of which contained 2.5 grams of plutonium" [for a total of 50g of plutonium] from the suspects.[1] ITAR-TASS identified the suspects as three Georgian citizens and one Armenian citizen, adding that they had hoped to sell the uranium for $100,000 and the plutonium for $750,000.[1] Prime News identified only three suspects: Elgudsha Nodiya and Nodar Mumladze, Georgian citizens, and Ara Sarkisyan, an Armenian citizen. According to Salakaya, the suspects said they had brought the material from Russia and Ukraine, planning to sell it in Tbilisi.  The suspects will be charged with violating Article 230 of the Georgian Criminal Code, which prohibits the illegal acquisition, possession, use, or sale of radioactive materials. If convicted, the suspects could face imprisonment for up to five years. 

[1] "V Tbilisi pri popytke realizatsii radioaktivnykh veshchestv zaderzhany troye grazhdan Gruzii i odin grazhdanin Armenii [Three Georgians and One Armenian Arrested in Tbilisi During Attempt to Sell Radioactive Material]," ITAR-TASS, 16 September 2000; in Integrum Techno, http://www.integrum.ru.