Two Armenians have pleaded guilty to smuggling nuclear bomb-grade uranium from their country into Georgia, as decided during a secret trial, said officials on Monday according to AFP.
In March, the two men, Sumbat Tonoian and Hrant Ohanian, attempted to sell 18 grams (0.6 ounces) of the smuggled uranium for $1.5 million. Their client turned out to be an undercover agent posing as an Islamic radical, said Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili according to AFP.
The uranium, about 90 percent enriched, was smuggled by the two in a cigarette box on a train from Armenia’s capital Yerevan to Tbilisi.
“Most likely, the materials were stolen in the mid- or early 90s when a big amount of material disappeared. It’s hidden somewhere and from time to time, someone is trying to find new buyers,” Archil Pavlenishvili, who heads a nuclear smuggling unit in Georgia’s Interior Ministry, told The Guardian.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili communicated about the case with world leaders in April at a nuclear summit, but details couldn’t be made public before the two had been found guilty, reported Civil.ge.
The United States has equipped Georgia with radiation detection equipment at all land, air, and sea border crossings.
To safeguard the identity of the undercover agents, the trial took place in Georgia behind closed doors. The men face prison terms of a minimum of 10 years, reported Radio Free Europe.
This case is the third nuclear smuggling incident exposed in Georgia.
In March, the two men, Sumbat Tonoian and Hrant Ohanian, attempted to sell 18 grams (0.6 ounces) of the smuggled uranium for $1.5 million. Their client turned out to be an undercover agent posing as an Islamic radical, said Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili according to AFP.
The uranium, about 90 percent enriched, was smuggled by the two in a cigarette box on a train from Armenia’s capital Yerevan to Tbilisi.
“Most likely, the materials were stolen in the mid- or early 90s when a big amount of material disappeared. It’s hidden somewhere and from time to time, someone is trying to find new buyers,” Archil Pavlenishvili, who heads a nuclear smuggling unit in Georgia’s Interior Ministry, told The Guardian.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili communicated about the case with world leaders in April at a nuclear summit, but details couldn’t be made public before the two had been found guilty, reported Civil.ge.
The United States has equipped Georgia with radiation detection equipment at all land, air, and sea border crossings.
To safeguard the identity of the undercover agents, the trial took place in Georgia behind closed doors. The men face prison terms of a minimum of 10 years, reported Radio Free Europe.
This case is the third nuclear smuggling incident exposed in Georgia.
