ABSTRACT
Just after midnight on May 29, 1999, alert border security guards stopped Urskan Hani–, aTurkish national, ataborder crossing in Ruse, Bulgaria, returning from a business trip to Turkey. Alerted by his suspicious behavior and lack of luggage, the guards searched Mr. Hani–’s car and discovered abill of lading, written in Cyrillic, for aquantity of “99.99% uranium-235.” They also found a2.5-kg metallic Pb container (Figure 20.1) hidden within a portable air compressor in the trunk of the car. Inside the Pb shielding “pig” was aglass ampoule –lled with several grams of –ne black powder (Figure 20.2) that scientists from the Bulgarian National Academy of Science later determined to be highly enriched uranium (HEU). Mr. Hani– told police that hehad purchased the material in Moldova for sale to aclient in Turkey. When the transaction fell through, Mr. Hani– was forced to return to Moldova with the HEU, whereupon he was subsequently interdicted and arrested.
