This past week, a mysterious package arrived at London’s Heathrow airport. Destined for Iranian nationals in the UK, it originated from Pakistan and arrived at Terminal 4 on an Oman Air jet from Muscat..Nothing was amiss, until specialist scanners detected the potentially-lethal uranium as it was ferried to a freight shed, triggering alarms. A security source tells me those scanners may be high-tech radioactive scanners. If so, they're made by secretive Italian security firm CEIA, the premier scanner manufacturer in the world. A company that looks after security at major airports, the White House, Air Force One and also for the US Secret Service.. Oman AirOman Air .In any case, all hell broke loose — in a good way, of course..Border Force agents and counter-terror cops swooped and isolated the unregistered shipment in a dedicated radioactive room, according to a report in UK’s The Sun..What they would discover would raise concerns to a heightened level — a deadly shipment of uranium..While a former army chief claimed the deadly shipment could have been used for a Litvinenko-style assassination plot, The Sun reported there is a far worse scenario. Spent plutonium can be broken down to a powder, making such a weapon very possible. The radioactive material could have been used to create a dirty bomb — a mixture of explosives with radioactive powder..The detonation of such a bomb could leave an area in a city radioactive for thousands of years. Your basic nightmare scenario..“The race is on to trace everyone involved with this rogue non-manifested package,” a source told The Sun..The shipment was discovered December 29..British police targeting an Iran-based firm with UK premises where the material was due to go to mystery recipients, the report said. No arrests have been made..“Security bosses are treating this with the seriousness it deserves. Protocol was not followed and this is now an anti-terror operation,” the source told The Sun. “There are real concerns over what the Iranians living here wanted with non-disclosed nuclear material.”.Former commander of the UK’s nuclear defence regiment Hamish De Bretton-Gordon said: “For uranium to turn up on a commercial airliner from Pakistan to an Iranian address in the UK is very suspect.”.“The nuclear threat has never been higher. Higher than it has ever been in the Cold War,” he added. “The good news is the system worked and it has been interdicted. Uranium can give off very high levels of poisonous radiation. It could be used in a dirty bomb.”.Just imagine what the detonation of a dirty bomb in central London could do..Strangely enough, dirty bombs are not a new thing. US Special Forces, Navy SEALs and select Marines were once trained to employ backpack nukes, according to military-interest website SOFREP.com..The scientists of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory created the W54 atomic warhead in the late ‘50s. It was one of the smallest nuclear warheads ever fielded at under 11-in. diameter (270-mm), about 16-in. long (400-mm) and a little over 50 pounds (23 kg). The fuse allowed for one to select a yield from a tenth of a kiloton to a full kiloton..In addition to the detonation, people out to a quarter-mile away were likely to receive a deadly dose of radiation. According to the report, 400 W54s were built. The Army also employed them on the M-29 Davy Crockett, a jeep-mounted recoilless cannon tactical nuclear weapon with about a 3-km. range. That left a couple hundred to be used by SOF as the MK54 Special Atomic Demolition Munition or SADM. The SADM was designed for a time where the US saw tactical nuclear weapons as a cheap and easy way to make up for capability..The SADM had a combination lock covering its mechanical timer, which was EMP-proof, mounted in a shockproof case that was waterproof to 200 feet, packed onto a padded ruck. Total weight of the SADM was a little over 160 lbs..Ironically, they were seen as simply super-sized explosives, the report said..Counter-mobility doctrine routinely uses explosives to slow the enemy’s advance and in Europe, with the overwhelming conventional capability of the Warsaw Pact, any and every advantage to slow down communist forces was considered..Bridges, tunnels and natural choke points were valid targets..Meanwhile, forensics teams spent days poring over the shipment which was spotted as it was moved to a freight shed owned by handling firm Swissport, The Sun reported..Strict protocols must be followed to fly dangerous cargo. Rules include uranium being loaded on to the base of units in the cargo hold — ensuring a minimum distance is kept between the nuclear material and cabin above..Authorities in London were quick to try to defuse fears and play down the seizure..Nothing to see here, move along..Cmdr. Richard Smith, head of the Met’s SO15 counter-terror branch, said “I want to reassure the public the amount of contaminated material was extremely small and has been assessed by experts as posing no threat to the public.”.Officials at the Home Office were also tight-lipped: “We do not comment on live investigations.”.Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, said this week in Mexico, accompanying President Joe Biden, that Iran would be a “substantial topic of conversation” for his trip..Sullivan said the two sides would have “the opportunity to engage deeply … on the threat posed by Iran.”. David BarneaMossad Chief David Barnea .Benjamin Netanyahu said it was “time for Israel and the US to be on the same page.”.By all accounts, something very terrible has been avoided. And once again, Iran is the likely villain..In fact, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, David Barnea, recently claimed Israel thwarted dozens of terrorist attacks allegedly planned by Iran on Israeli citizens and Jewish communities around the world. Speaking at a conference in Reichmann University, Barnea claimed the planned attacks — in Cyprus, Turkey and Colombia — were state terror carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other Iranian organizations on the orders of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei..Worse, the likelihood of a renewed White House nuclear deal with Iran, Barnea said, could be catastrophic..“Once the deal is signed, there will be no restraint on Iranian terrorism,” with the huge sums of money that will be given to the Islamic Republic..“It is not the Islamic Republic of Iran; it is the terrorist republic of Iran.”
