NEW YORK: More than two tonnes of natural uranium reported missing by the UN’s nuclear watchdog in war-scarred Libya have been found, a general in the country’s east said Thursday.
General Khaled al-Mahjoub, commander of eastern general Khalifa Haftar’s communications division, said the containers of uranium had been recovered “barely five kilometers (three miles)” from where they had been stored in southern Libya, and after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported their disappearance earlier Thursday.
Earlier, the IAEA said its inspectors have found that roughly 2.5 tons of natural uranium have gone missing from a Libyan site that is not under government control.
The finding is the result of an inspection originally planned for last year that “had to be postponed because of the security situation in the region” and was finally carried out on Tuesday, according to the confidential statement by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi. Earlier, UN nuclear watchdog inspectors found that roughly 2.5 tons of natural uranium have gone missing from a Libyan site that is not under government control, the watchdog told member states in a statement. The finding is the result of an inspection originally planned for last year that “had to be postponed because of the security situation in the region” and was finally carried out on Tuesday, according to the confidential statement by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi. –Agencies
