Pakistan has raised concern about the attempted illegal sale of six kilogrammes of uranium in India and has demanded that similar events be thoroughly investigated.
The Foreign Office (FO) stated in a statement that a similar occurrence occurred in India last month when two persons were caught carrying seven kilogrammes of uranium.
“Such reports in the past are a matter of deep concern as they point to lax controls, poor regulatory and enforcement mechanisms, as well as the possible existence of a black market for nuclear materials inside India,” the FO said.
According to the FO statement, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material compel governments to take “stringent measures to prevent nuclear material from falling into the wrong hands.”
Given the importance of the attempted uranium sale to international peace and security as well as the integrity of the global non-proliferation framework, FO stated that determining the purpose and eventual user of the uranium transaction is also critical.
Seven persons were detained on Friday in Bokaro, Jharkhand, for attempting to sell roughly six kilogrammes of uranium. According to the Times of India, the persons detained are accused of being members of a national gang engaged in illicit uranium trading. According to the police, the suspects were looking for consumers and had set the price at INR 5 million.
Two men were also detained last month in Maharashtra, in western India, for carrying the highly radioactive material.
