Ukraine holds 'uranium smuggler'

Ukraine received help from EU and US to help guard its borders

A man has been arrested by border guards in western Ukraine on suspicion of trying to smuggle radioactive material into Hungary.

Ukrainian daily Segodnya, quoting unofficial sources, said the man was a former Soviet intelligence officer.

Border guards say they arrested the suspect after finding a container with 400g of uranium in his minibus.

There is international unease over the illegal trade in nuclear materials from the former Soviet Union.

The European Commission and the United States have both invested in programmes to help Ukraine tighten its border controls.

"It is too early to say where the radioactive material came from, or where it was heading," an official from Ukraine's Directorate for Fighting Organised Crime told the Segodnya newspaper.

"I can only say that (the smuggler) was carrying dangerous substances in a special container made back in Soviet times, and he had Soviet quality certificates."

The suspect, arrested on Tuesday, told border guards he had been paid to take the material to Hungary "for use by a dentist".

It is not clear whether the uranium was in natural form or if it had been enriched for potential use in nuclear reactors or weapons.

Tests are to be carried out in Kiev.