Georgia arrests three for trying to illegally buy 2 kg of uranium

Three Chinese nationals were arrested in Georgia on suspicion of attempting to illegally purchase 2 kg of uranium.

Lasha Magradze, deputy head of the country’s State Security Service (SSG), told a briefing that the group planned to pay $400,000 (£300,570) for the nuclear material in the capital Tbilisi before transporting it to China via Russia.

The alleged plot was uncovered by intelligence agents while one of the group’s members was trying to buy the radioactive substance on the black market, he said.

The three pleaded not guilty in a Tbilisi court and were remanded in custody to prevent them from fleeing the country, according to public broadcaster Georgia Today.

They face up to five years in prison under a provision of Georgia’s criminal code that prohibits the purchase of nuclear material.

Mr Maghradze told reporters that the operation was being coordinated by other members of the group in China.

SSG footage shows armed soldiers storming a car and detaining three people.

It also shows two glass jars containing a yellow substance in the trunk of a car that tests have identified as uranium.

It is not clear what isotope of uranium the men were looking for – although all can emit harmful radiation – and what they intended for it.

As a former Soviet nation, Georgia had a stockpile of nuclear material after the bloc’s collapse in 1991.

The security of these materials has been an ongoing concern, with several serious incidents of illicit uranium sales in the years since.

In July, the SSG arrested two people – one Georgian and one Turkish national – for attempting to trade $3 million worth of uranium.