VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBUL #0266 0331329
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 021329Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2632

UNCLAS KABUL 000266 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR STATE ISN/CTR AND PM/ISO/PMAT (24/7) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KNNP MNUC PARM KCRM PTER ASEC KCOR AF
SUBJECT: NUCLEAR SMUGGLING INCIDENT/PORTAL DETECTION AT 
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN 
 
REF: 2007 STATE 162091 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Post wishes to alert the Department and 
Washington agencies per reftel that it has received a 
report indicating a potential incident of illicit 
trafficking in nuclear and/or radiological materials. 
This report came to post's attention via a U.S. contractor 
circulating a routine host government report on host nation 
security force activities.  Information concerning this 
report was relayed telephonically to PMAT at 0940Z on 
2 Feb 2008. 
 
¶2.  Details of the incident follow: 
 
A)  Current location of material:  not yet known; 
B)  Transport status of material:  not yet known; 
C)  Assessment of the likelihood that the appropriate 
authorities can/will secure the material:  likely that the 
materials are secured by Afghan National Directorate 
of Security or Afghan National Police following seizure 
of materials from an Afghan National's home on 31 Jan 2008; 
D)  If in transit, means of transport:  not yet known; 
E)  Intended destination of material:  not yet known; 
F)  Routing of material, if via multiple ports: not yet known; 
G)  Supplier and/or origination point of material: not yet 
known; 
H)  Type of material:  labeled by Afghan authorities as 2 
bottles of uranium; 
I)  Date and time of incident: 31 Jan 2008, not time 
indicated; 
J)  Source of the report:  Afghan National Police Coordination 
Center (NPCC) daily report; 
K)  If an alarm, tecnical information:  n/a; 
L)  What else if anything was being smuggled with the 
material:  seized items from same Afghan National's home 
included 20 hand grenades, 3 fire extinguishers, 1 concertina 
wire, 2 bottles of black gun powder, 158 AK-47 rounds, and 1 
pair of binoculars; 
M)  Specific place where alarm or incident occurred:  Afghan 
National's home, where materials were seized, is located in 
Khair Abad Village, Char Asyab District, Kabul Province; 
N) Additional details (if any available):  Activities of the 
Afghan National Police and Afghan National Directorate of 
Security are summarized in a daily report to the NPCC that is 
then passed to Embassy Kabul for awareness.  The report 
forwarded to Embassy at midnight local time on 2 Feb 2008 
contained information regarding the seizure of various weapons 
and weapons material from an Afghan National's home and noted 
the seizure of 2 bottles of uranium.  The credibility of this 
report to the extent that the seized items are actually 
uranium 
is dubious at best.  No international or U.S. personnel have 
yet been able to achieve better clarity on the incident, but 
are very engaged on the matter and hope to receive further 
information from the Afghan government in the near term. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Action officer at post for handling incident is 
Michael Williams, reachable via  93 (0)700-108-163 and 
williamsme3@state.gov. 
WOOD