Kenya testing seized 'uranium'

2002-09-18 12:22

Nairobi - Kenyan experts are examining a substance seized from three men, including a senior government official, who tried to sell it to undercover policemen claiming it was uranium, police said on Wednesday.

The government official was freed soon after the arrests on Saturday because "he is a sick man and constantly on medication", but the other two are still in custody, police spokesperson Peter Kimanthi said.

Enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear bombs.

"It is too early to say with any amount of certainty what type of substance this stuff was," a police statement said, adding that it had been handed over to the geology department of the University of Nairobi for examination.

"This is the first time we have had a case of someone claiming to have uranium, but we have had cases of conmen trying to sell to others things they claimed to be minerals, such as diamonds said to be from South Africa or gold from Tanzania, and which were found to be fake," said Kimanthi.

But according to a diplomat, fraud cases involving substances said to be uranium have been reported in the region since 1994-95. At least two of those cases happened in Kenya and a neighbouring country.

Conmen usually offer to sell the substance in sealed containers, according to the diplomat.

"The container is remarkably well-sealed, with all the necessary stamps, and the story is fairly convincing," often giving Kinshasa as the place of origin of the contraband, he explained.

"Mostly, no one will take the risk of opening the container to verify whether the contents are uranium" because of its radioactive nature.

One of the suspected "uranium" sellers had claimed to be from South Africa and the other one from Uganda, but it has since been established that both are Kenyan, according to Kimanthi.

The suspect who was released on health grounds is a former provincial commissioner and currently the director of the agency that licences casinos and lotteries in Kenya. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA