'Uranium smugglers' in Czech sting

By Rob Cameron
BBC correspondent in Prague

Two Slovaks have been arrested in the Czech Republic for trying to sell what appears to be low-grade uranium, police say.

They say the men were arrested in a sting operation at a hotel in Brno, the country's second city.

The two were detained as they were counting money from the deal, according to a police spokeswoman.

The men had been tricked into selling the material to a plainclothes policeman.

Friday's operation followed a week of intensive police surveillance.

Previous case

Experts from the country's nuclear safety authority are now examining the material.

The head of the authority said it was most likely low-grade uranium, and could not have been used for the production of nuclear weapons.

She said the material probably came from the former Soviet Union.

This case was the largest seizure of radioactive material anywhere in the world in the last nine months - although it is not the first time smuggled uranium has been seized in the Czech Republic.

In 1998 seven members of a uranium smuggling gang were arrested and sent to prison. They included a former Czechoslovak army officer and a nuclear physicist.