Wikileaks : Viewing cable 08KABUL266, NUCLEAR SMUGGLING INCIDENT/PORTAL DETECTION AT

02 Febbraio 2011


VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBUL #0266 0331329
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 021329Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2632

UNCLAS KABUL 000266

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

FOR STATE ISN/CTR AND PM/ISO/PMAT (24/7)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KNNP MNUC PARM KCRM PTER ASEC KCOR AF
SUBJECT: NUCLEAR SMUGGLING INCIDENT/PORTAL DETECTION AT
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

REF: 2007 STATE 162091

1.(SBU) Post wishes to alert the Department and Washington agencies per reftel that it has received a report indicating a potential incident of illicit trafficking in nuclear and/or radiological materials. This report came to post's attention via a U.S. contractor circulating a routine host government report on host nation security force activities. Information concerning this report was relayed telephonically to PMAT at 0940Z on 2 Feb 2008.

¶2. Details of the incident follow:

A) Current location of material: not yet known;

B) Transport status of material: not yet known;

C) Assessment of the likelihood that the appropriate authorities can/will secure the material: likely that the materials are secured by Afghan National Directorate of Security or Afghan National Police following seizure of materials from an Afghan National's home on 31 Jan 2008;

D) If in transit, means of transport: not yet known;

E) Intended destination of material: not yet known;

F) Routing of material, if via multiple ports: not yet known;

G) Supplier and/or origination point of material: not yet known;

H) Type of material: labeled by Afghan authorities as 2 bottles of uranium;

I) Date and time of incident: 31 Jan 2008, not time indicated;

J) Source of the report: Afghan National Police Coordination Center (NPCC) daily report;

K) If an alarm, tecnical information: n/a;

L) What else if anything was being smuggled with the material: seized items from same Afghan National's home included 20 hand grenades, 3 fire extinguishers, 1 concertina wire, 2 bottles of black gun powder, 158 AK-47 rounds, and 1 pair of binoculars;

M) Specific place where alarm or incident occurred: Afghan National's home, where materials were seized, is located in Khair Abad Village, Char Asyab District, Kabul Province;

N) Additional details (if any available): Activities of the Afghan National Police and Afghan National Directorate of Security are summarized in a daily report to the NPCC that is then passed to Embassy Kabul for awareness.

The report forwarded to Embassy at midnight local time on 2 Feb 2008 contained information regarding the seizure of various weapons and weapons material from an Afghan National's home and noted the seizure of 2 bottles of uranium. The credibility of this report to the extent that the seized items are actually uranium is dubious at best. No international or U.S. personnel have yet been able to achieve better clarity on the incident, but are very engaged on the matter and hope to receive further information from the Afghan government in the near term.

3.(SBU) Action officer at post for handling incident is Michael Williams, reachable via xxxxxxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxx.
WOOD