Thursday, September 18, 2008

US Consulate concerned about Uranium smuggling

Shillong, Sep 18 : Reports of uranium smuggling from Meghalaya have attracted the attention of the United States of America. Well placed sources in the Meghalaya police have confirmed that the US Consulate at Kolkata has been making enquiries about the alleged uranium smuggling from Meghalaya even as investigations have revealed that these reports of uranium smuggling are mere fraudulent acts perpetrated by a few individuals.

Nothing definite is known about the nature of the queries made by the US authorities but Meghalaya police was lucid in terming the alleged uranium smuggling as a mere fraud case. While investigating into the seizure of the suspected mineral two weeks ago from West Khasi Hills, police picked up a total of five people with the last one being Hep John from Wahkaji. On Monday Hep John was remanded to two days police custody, however in a bizarre twist to the case the same court released him on bail a few hours later.
Sources in the police said, “The tests performed by the officials of Atomic Mineral Division (AMD) in Shillong confirmed that the smuggling is not uranium ore. The real report will be shortly furnished by AMD.” “Even the packet used by the alleged smugglers, all hailing from the same district, is totally different from the one made by AMD while packing the mineral”, said the police source.

Police further added that there is no need for concern as this is nothing but a hoax call and could be the handiwork of a few unscrupulous miscreants out to earn quick money by fooling unsuspecting and gullible people. Yet the keen interest shown by the US Consulate has raised many an eyebrow and the question doing the rounds is, why the US officials are so concerned about the incident and why seek so much information about it.

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