E-Paper
Pak denies claims by British media over uranium in plane cargo: Report
Last month, London's Heathrow airport scanners detected a package containing scrap metal with uranium embedded into metal bars.
Pakistan on Thursday denied reports that a uranium-tainted package discovered on an Oman Air flight that landed at London's Heathrow airport last month originated from Karachi. Foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra was quoted by Pak daily Dawn as saying the reports are 'not factual' and that United Kingdom officials had not shared such information.
"No information to this effect has been shared with us officially. We are confident the reports are not factual," Zahra said, after British media claimed the scrap metal shipment - now the subject of a counter-terrorsim investigation in that country - came from Pakistan.
Commander Richard Smith, head of the counter-terrorism unit of the Metropolitan Police Service, has promised the city government's Police and Crime Committee a full inquiry.
The package arrived at Heathrow's Terminal 4 on December 29 via Oman Air flight WY 101.
Also Read | Iran to enrich uranium to 60% purity at Fordow nuclear site: Report
Airport scanners detected scrap metal; the uranium was embedded into metal bars according to British daily The Guardian and the package was addresed to a UK-based Iran-linked firm.
The package contained 'a very small amount of contaminated material' that experts assessed as 'posing no threat to the public'. The uranium was 'not weapons-grade' - and so could not be used to manufacture a thermo-nuclear weapon, experts cited by media reports said.
Uranium is a naturally-occurring radioactive metal used as fuel for nuclear power plants and reactors that power warships and submarines. It is also used in nuclear weapons.
However, British broadcaster Sky News quoted a former head of the army's chemical weapons unit as expressing concern over any shipment of uranium on passenger planes.
(With inputs from agencies)
