MUK Don Held Over Uranium

Mar 13, 2002

POLICE have arrested a Makerere University nuclear physicist and recovered about 50kg of suspected uranium from his laboratory at the government university.

By Davis Weddi and Alfred Wasike POLICE have arrested a Makerere University nuclear physicist and recovered about 50kg of suspected uranium from his laboratory at the government university.Experts from the CID anti-terrorism department arrested two other people suspected of trafficking in uranium. One suspect is still at large. Akisoferi Kisolo, the head of Makerere’s Physics Department, was picked up on Monday while testing the mineral at the university laboratory, Police said.Uranium is a silvery-white radioactive chemical used in producing nuclear energy and making the deadly atomic bombs, among others. A CID source described the mineral as “very deadly. Even officials in the geology department fear to test it.” The other suspects were Fred Kasubi, a primary school teacher in Jinja, and Bwayambadde, a Kisenyi businessman. The acting Assistant Commissioner of Police in-charge of crime, Edson Mbiringi, said yesterday that samples of the substance had been sent to the Government Chemist for testing.Kisolo, one of Uganda’s few atomic physicists, also heads the National Radiation Protection Service, which regulates atomic energy, radiation and safety in Uganda.Security sources said Kisolo was “being used to test the uranium for international trafficking.” The sources said Kasubi claimed he acquired the mineral from a wife of a deceased UPDF officer who had just returned from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. “He then approached Bwayambadde in Kisenyi. It is Bwayambadde who carried it to Prof Kisolo.They had also approached some foreigners to purchase their mineral,” the source added. A university official said Kisolo’s offence had to be legally defined. “Kisolo is Uganda’s chief radiation safety officer. He probably has the right and the qualifications to protect Uganda against possible radiation,” he said.Ends

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