Ukrainian Authorities Say They Seize Radioactive Substance, Arrest Two

May 17, 2004

Ukrainian Authorities Say They Seize Radioactive Substance, Arrest Two

By Aleksandar Vasovic
Associated Press Writer

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Ukrainian security officers have arrested two Middle Eastern men whom they said possessed a substance that has been touted by sellers as an ingredient in nuclear weapons and dismissed by others as a hoax.

Security agents in the southern city of Odessa seized 24 pounds of a substance they said was radioactive and identified as "red mercury," a State Security Service spokesman said Monday on condition of anonymity. He said they arrested two men from a Middle Eastern country,

"Foreign citizens were looking for an opportunity to purchase a quantity of radioactive material in Ukraine and to sell it in the Middle East," said the spokesman, who would not say what country the men were from or where the material came from. He said the arrests were made several weeks ago.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, black marketeers have been peddling substances they call red mercury, apparently passing it off to buyers as a highly radioactive compound that purportedly was developed in Soviet nuclear facilities and could be used in powerful weapons.


more
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGANV93SCUD.html

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/chemicalweapons/f/blredmercury.htm

You can make a tinfoil hat out of it I believe....