Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad seizes over 7 kg uranium worth ₹ 21.3 crore, arrests 2

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad or ATS has seized over 7 kg of natural uranium worth about ₹ 21.30 crore and arrested two persons in this connection, an official said today.

The substance is "highly radioactive and dangerous to human life", the ATS official said quoting a report of an analysis conducted by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre or BARC.

Acting on a specific information, the Nagpada unit of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had apprehended a 27-year-old Thane resident, Jigar Pandya, with some small pieces of the valuable substance on February 14 this year, he told news agency Press Trust of India.

Jigar Pandya was allegedly trying to sell it illegally and was in search of a possible customer, he said.

During his interrogation, the ATS team got information that the uranium pieces were given to him by one Abu Tahir Afzal Husain Choudhary (31), a resident of Mankhurd in the eastern suburbs here, the official told Press Trust of India.

The ATS subsequently caught Choudhary from the premises of Kurla Scrap Association in Mankhurd and seized 7.100 kg of natural uranium from his possession, he told news agency PTI.

The seized uranium was sent to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Trombay for analysis, he said.

The report received from the research centre mentioned that the substance was natural uranium, which is "highly radioactive and dangerous to human life", he said.

The ATS on Wednesday registered a case under provisions of the Atomic Energy Act-1962, based on a complaint by regional director, central region, Atomic Minerals Directorate of Exploration of Research, Nagpur, he said.

The two accused were on Wednesday produced before a local court which remanded them in the custody of the ATS till May 12, the official said.