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Journalism of Courage
Turkish police arrested two men near the Syrian border with a lead tube reportedly containing uranium, but international monitors said they were evaluating the incident with skepticism.
An initial report said the tube contained as many as 35 pounds of refined fissionable material, about half as many as in the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. But an anonymous official discounted the report, saying the police had mistakenly included the weight of the lead container.
The undetermined radioactive material actually weighed three ounces. The later report reinforced skepticism already being voiced at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN body that monitors nuclear proliferation. A spokeswoman said that specialists at the agency ‘‘laughed’’ when they saw news photos of the container stamped with misspelled words, and the phrase ‘‘Made in W. Germany.’’
Turkish officials were not available for comment Sunday. However, suspicion immediately focused on Iraq, just 150 miles from Sanliurfa, the city in southeastern Turkey where the two men were arrested.
The contents of the container will be tested at the Turkish atomic energy department. (LATWP)
