LONDON. A uranium package. The disturbing discovery was made by security officers at Heathrow, London’s largest airport. Now counter-terrorism has taken the field for a story to be thoroughly investigated and which refers to similar threats, including radioactive ones, of the past. Like that of the polonium that killed the former KGB officer, Alexander Litvinenko in the capital in 2006 and the attempted assassination 12 years later a Salisbury of the Russian double agent spy Sergei Skripal and of his daughter Yuliain that case however with a chemical agent, the Novichokwhich however killed poor homeless Dawn Sturgess, who found the deadly flask in the trash.
Finding the parcel
This time, however, the story seems to be of a very different nature. First, the suspicious package has been blocked at Heathrow last December 29 and contained uranium in “very small quantities, which did not endanger citizens and passengers”, assures Scotland Yard. Nonetheless, given the potential threat, British counter-terrorism agents took action. But the seized, undeclared nuclear material could in theory have been used for a “dirty bomb” (ie a device containing explosives and radioactive elements), according to sources leaking to the “Sun”. Apparently, the package was intended for an Iranian company based in the UK, and arrived from Pakistan and then on a plane from Oman. There have currently been no arrests.
“There is fear, but small quantities”
“There is concern about what the Iranians might have done with material like this,” a Heathrow airport source tells the tabloid. The Daily Mail speaks of “several kilos of undeclared substance in the package”, but the authorities have not confirmed. Certainly, said Richard Smith, head of the counterterrorism department of Scotland Yard“I want to reassure the public that this material has been found in very small quantities and therefore poses no threat to the public, although we are still investigating.” Only a few days ago in Germany two alleged Islamic terrorists were arrested who allegedly planned an attack with chemical weapons, with cyanide and ricin, which were to be used to commit a “serious attack”: an Iranian was arrested who, however, would not have acted on behalf of state of Teheran.
Iran
About Iran. In a few weeks, the Revolutionary Guards “pasdaran” could be classified by the UK as a terrorist organization, according to the Telegraph. If confirmed, it would be a significant move that would further complicate the already fraught relationship between London and Iran, including Tehran’s nuclear negotiations, as the “guardians of the revolution” would be practically equated with terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and Isis. In a recent and rare public speech a few weeks ago, the director general of the British MI5 Ken McCallum had spoken of at least 10 attempted assassinations of British citizens by Iran in the last year: “Tehran poses a direct threat to United Kingdom“, McCallum said on the occasion, “through his aggressive intelligence”.