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1945, was seized in Tengen-Weichs. As a result, nuclear contraband is
The plutonium was part of a growing moving down the same pipeline as used
pile of bomb-grade materials made by Afghans to move guns, heroin and
available when the United States and looted Buddha artifacts. As of July,
Russia complied with their mutual arms- 1994, Germany has registered 241 cases
reduction treaties. Bernd Schmidbauer, of attempted nuclear smuggling. What
the minister responsible for Germany's was revealing was that examination of
intelligence service, warned that nuclear the 6 grams of plutonium 239 discovered
smuggling had reached a dramatic turn in Tengen-Weichs showed that it could
in that Mafia-like organizations were traced back to one of Russia's three big
becoming involved. Knowing that the nuclear installations. Nuclear experts
West is entering a new era of nuclear consulted by Stuttgart public prosecutors
terrorism from the former Soviet Union were reported as saying that they suspect
he warned on German television: "We as much as 148 kg of weapons-grade
have reached a spectacular new plutonium is on the black market in
dimension... Perhaps the most dramatic Europe -- enough to make around 10
thing about it is that this material came nuclear bombs.
from Russia's nuclear weapons
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industry." The Path of Snakes
“It is not healthy when a nation
After the Cold War, the nuclear
superpowers dismantled some 30,000 lives within a nation, as coloured
warheads, thereby reducing the danger Americans are living inside
of a nuclear holocaust but, ironically, America. A nation cannot live
greatly increasing the opportunities for confident of its tomorrow, if its
nuclear theft and, eventually, nuclear refugees are among its own
terrorism around the world. Even though citizens” -- Pearl S. Buck
the Russians have vowed that their
nuclear safeguards are among the safest Further investigations indicate that
in the world, Western experts doubt very enriched uranium and other substances
much that this is true. Nuclear analysts for making nuclear weapons are being
around the world are well aware that smuggled out of the defunct Soviet
Russian morale has plummeted and Union and are for sale in clandestine
working conditions have seriously arms bazaars outside of the former
deteriorated for the 100,000 people once empire. One of these bazaars is in
employed in their nuclear-weapons Peshawar, a Pakistani city next to the
complex. This presents the prospect that Khyber Pass, where nuclear material and
some would prefer to profit from it in the much sort after plutonium are
order to improve their living conditions. actively traded. 3 Strategic nuclear
With the potential black-market price of equipment, looted from high-security
a bomb-size amount of plutonium in the sites and military installations in the
region of hundreds of millions of dollars, former Soviet Union, is being shipped
it would not be surprising to find that down the smugglers' route to Peshawar
some discontented and unpaid plant through Turkmenistan and across
workers willing to steal some of this Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains.
material. Nuclear salesmen are offering to sell
