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A man has been arrested under terrorism laws after traces of uranium were found in a cargo package at Heathrow Airport, police said.
Border Force officers discovered the radioactive material in a shipment of scrap metal on December 29, which the Sun newspaper said originated in Pakistan and was destined for Iranians in the UK.
Police in Cheshire arrested the man, aged in his 60s, on Saturday under section nine of the Terrorism Act.
He has been bailed until April.
Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met’s counter-terrorism command, said: “I want to be clear that despite this arrest and based on what we know at the moment, this incident does not yet appear to be linked to a direct threat to society.
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“However, detectives are continuing their inquiries to ensure that this is definitely the case.”
Officers said they did not find any other hazardous material at the Cheshire address, but the offense the man was charged with related to the production or possession of radioactive material.
A Met spokesman said the uranium was discovered during a “routine check” at Heathrow.
Mr Smith added: “The discovery of what was a very small amount of uranium in a package at Heathrow Airport is obviously a cause for concern, but it demonstrates the effectiveness of the procedures and checks on the ground with our partners to detect this type of material.”
“Our priority from the start of our investigation has been to ensure there is no immediate threat to the public involved. To that end, we are following every possible line of investigation available that led us to this arrest over the weekend.
Colonel Hamish de Breton-Gordon, a chemical and biological weapons expert and former head of the UK’s nuclear defense regiment, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program on Wednesday that people should be reassured that it had been detected.
He said: “It is very clear that the comprehensive surveillance network that we have in this country, run by the security services, the police and others, has actually worked and picked up a potentially very dangerous containment that could pose a threat.
“I think people in this country should be pretty calm that we’re not going to see dirty bombs of this kind of material.”
Asked what might have happened to the metal, he said: “If it’s for nefarious reasons, for bad reasons, to create chaos by Iranians or some kind of Russian proxies, then that’s an area of concern.”
“But I think the key thing is that there are people who care about it and it shouldn’t worry the public unnecessarily.”
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