After several kilograms of uranium were seized at Heathrow Airport, a full-scale counter-terrorism investigation was launched.
The deadly nuclear material – which could potentially be used in a “dirty bomb” – arrived in the Middle East on a December 29 flight from Oman.
The shipment was addressed to an Iran-affiliated company in the UK, it said.
Sources said the uranium is “unweaponable” — and therefore cannot be used to create a thermonuclear weapon.
But security services are understood to be investigating whether the undeclared package could be for an improvised nuclear bomb known as a “dirty bomb.”
One such device – which has long been a nightmare scenario for counterterrorism experts – combines conventional explosives with nuclear materials to disperse a deadly radioactive cloud.
The package originated in Pakistan before arriving at Heathrow’s Terminal 4 aboard an Oman Air passenger plane from Muscat, sources told The Sun.
A shipment of uranium was seized at Heathrow Airport
The undeclared material was discovered on December 29 on a passenger plane from Oman
The police made no arrests.
A source told the Mail: “The package contained kilos of uranium – but it was not weaponized.”
Separately, a source told The Sun there was an overwhelming “concern about what the Iranians living here wanted with undisclosed nuclear material.”
An unnamed source told the publication: “The race is on to prosecute everyone involved in this rogue unmanifest package.
“Security chiefs are treating this with the seriousness it deserves. Protocol was not followed and this is now an anti-terrorist operation.”
Special scanners captured the undeclared package as it was being transported to a goods shed.
Special scanners captured the undeclared package as it was being transported to a goods shed
Border Force agents isolated the shipment in a radioactive room and called the anti-terrorist police when they determined it was uranium.
Met Police told Web: “We can confirm that officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command have been contacted by Border Force colleagues at Heathrow after a routine check was carried out in a package sent on March 29.
Commander Richard Smith said: “I would like to reassure the public that the amount of contaminated material was extremely small and was assessed by experts as not posing a threat to the public.
“While our investigation is ongoing, based on our investigations to date, it does not appear to be linked to any direct threat.
“However, as the public would expect, we will continue to follow all available lines of inquiry to ensure that this is definitely the case.
“However, it underscores the excellent skills we and our partners have in policing our ports and borders to protect the public from any potential threats to their security that could come to the UK.”
“No arrests have been made at this time and officers continue to work with partner authorities to fully investigate this matter and ensure there is no risk to the public.
“The material was found to be contaminated with uranium.”
Special scanners captured the undeclared package as it was being transported to a goods shed. In the picture: A nuclear storage facility
A Home Office spokesman said: “We do not comment on live investigations.”
Hamish De Bretton-Gordon, former commander of the British Nuclear Defense Regiment, said: “Uranium can emit very high concentrations of toxic radiation. It could be used in a dirty bomb.
“The good news is that the system worked and was banned.”
Forensic teams are believed to be still examining the nuclear material.
As early as 2003, the then head of MI5 warned that it was “only a matter of time” before a major western city was attacked with a dirty bomb or chemical weapons.
Eliza Manningham-Buller said intelligence reports indicated that “renegade scientists” had given terrorist groups the information they needed to create such weapons.
“My conclusion based on the information we have received is that we are faced with a realistic possibility of an unconventional attack that could include a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack,” she said.
“Unfortunately, given the widespread dissemination of the technical knowledge to build these weapons, it will only be a matter of time before a crude version of a CBRN is fired at a major western city.”
In 2004, British security services arrested Dhiren Barot, a Muslim convert who planned to assemble and use dirty bombs to kill citizens in the UK and US.
He was imprisoned for 30 years.
Sources said the uranium is “unweaponable” — and therefore cannot be used to create a thermonuclear weapon
Home Office-backed website ProtectUK, which provides advice on terrorist threats, currently states: “A British attack plan using a radiological weapon is highly unlikely as there are significant challenges in obtaining suitable radioactive sources subject to controls.”
Last year, former Washington official Robert Joseph told Web that Iran is a nuclear-armed state with enough uranium to build “one, if not two” bombs.
He said: “The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has documented that Iran has 60% enriched uranium, enough for at least one, if not two, bombs.
“We’ve been saying for years that they’re getting close to that breakout point and we really need to negotiate with them.” They are there.’
Joseph was chief negotiator for Libya in 2003 and is said to have persuaded Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to abandon his nuclear weapons program.
MP Matthew Offord said at the time that Iran was “regularly testing ballistic missiles and trying to get enough uranium to make a weapon.”