6 Kgs of Uranium was recovered in possession of 7 miscreants, who were arrested by a special squad of the police team in Bokaro in Jharkhand following raids at different parts of the city on Thursday. The police were acting on a tip-off they had received about the group involved in the illegal smuggling of uranium.
“A police team conducted raids at various locations in the district on the directions of Superintendent of Police, who got information that a group of criminals were active to trade uranium…During the raids, seven criminals were arrested and six kg of uranium was recovered from their possession,” a statement from the Bokaro police said.
The substance recovered from the miscreants has been sent for tests. Uranium is a highly radioactive element and is used in nuclear facilities. The police said the accused, suspected to be a part of the national gang involved in illegal trade, were searching for customers and had fixed its price at Rs 50 lakhs per kg. According to sources, a kilo of uranium trades at Rs 18 crores in the global market.
Those arrested have been identified as Bapi Da alias Bapi Chandra, Anil Singh, Deepak Kumar, Krishna Kant, Hare Ram Sharma, Mahavir Mahto and Pankaj Mahto. Police says they are residents of different parts of the district. The possession of uranium without a license in India is illegal and is contravention of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962.
It is still unclear how the accused got hold of such a huge quantity of highly radioactive substance such as uranium. In their interrogation, the accused have been giving evasive answers when asked about how they procured uranium. At times, they claim they got it from a man from West Bengal and sometimes they claim they got it from Giridih and other places.
Two men arrested in Mumbai with 7-kg of natural uranium worth Rs 21 crore
This is not the first time that uranium has been seized from common citizens in recent times. Earlier in May 2021, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had arrested two men with 7 kgs of natural uranium worth Rs 21 crore in Mumbai.
Those arrested were identified as Jigar Jayesh Pandya and Abu Tahir Afzal Hussain Choudhary. The ATS had received a tip-off that the accused were searching for a potential buyer to sell the huge cache of the highly radioactive element. A trap was laid and the two were arrested.
