Reuters and a number of other sources are reporting the arrest of Fortunat Lumu, Commissioner General for Atomic Energy in Democratic Republic of the Congo, over suspected plans to illegally sell uranium.
Basically, this is all the info: a Kinshasa newspaper alleged (no public evidence yet to support the claim, notes BBC) that uranium is missing from the city’s atomic institute, Congolese authorities confirmed the arrest of Lumu and another associate, and Congo’s Minister of Scientific Research Sylvanus Mushi said that there was contact with a criminal network, “a group of people coming from all over the world, from Europe, from South Africa, from the Seychelles.”
Stories on uranium from the Republic of the Congo have been popping up for a while, and like this most recent one, each time seem to lack any details. Global Security Newswire reported on it in June 2004 and July 2006. In November 2006 Reuters quoted unnamed officials on concerns of sales to Iran.
Last August, Jeffrey wrote a post tearing into a Sunday Times of London article which claimed uranium sales from Congo to Iran. Clearly, the AP was not paying attention to Jeffrey’s wisdom (which, by the way, comes up quickly in a google search for the story), and again referenced the Sunday Times report.