11 remanded over 'uranium' seizure

Police will interrogate 11 people for four days in connection with the seizure of what is believed to be ‘uranium’ from Dhaka.

A magistrate court in Dhaka rejected the detainees' bail plea on Sunday.

Defence lawyers argued that it was still unclear whether the seized two-pound material was indeed uranium, a heavy and dense radioactive element.

One of the lawyers claimed the detainees did not have the ability to store uranium.

It is still unclear how the men got hold of the suspected radioactive material.

Uranium is primarily used as fuel in nuclear power plants and to produce isotopes for medical and industrial purposes.

Enriched uranium is used to power nuclear ships and submarines, and nuclear weapons.

Depleted uranium, leftover after enriching ordinary uranium, is used in shells and projectiles to enhance their armour-piercing capacity.

There are no known sources of uranium in Bangladesh but its bordering Indian state of Meghalaya is believed to have a huge deposit of high quality uranium.

Police claimed the detainees identified the material as uranium.

It has been sent to the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission for tests and the results will take around two weeks, said Dhaka police's detective branch Deputy Commissioner Krishnapada Roy.

He identified the detainees as Moynal Hossain Sagar, 45, Humayun Kabir, 48, Kaiyum Chowdhury, 54, Kayes Ahmed, 54, Md Khaleque, 44, Swapan Molla, 45, 'Firoz', 45, Masudur Rahman Nasim, 42, Aslam Miah, 61, Moinuddin Razan, 45 and Tofael Ahmed Patwary, 48.

At a press conference on Sunday, DB said they arrested the men in separate raids from the capital and recovered two pounds of 'uranium', that has an estimated market value of Tk 500 million, from a Banani residence.

"They claimed that they had been looking for a customer for the last six months for the uranium," DB official Roy said.