Abkhazia has already “lost” two kilograms of enriched Uranium in the early 90s. Now the chaos caused by the Russian invasion has stoked fears that this is the perfect opportunity for terror organizations to purchase more radioactive materials:

When the breakaway region of Abkhazia split from Georgia in 1993, the world’s only known case of enriched uranium going missing was reported after up to 2kg of the potentially devastating material was stolen from a laboratory.

There are now fears that the organised criminal gangs that are rife in the region could exploit the confusion of the current conflict to loot other stocks.

Security services are worried that terrorist organisations such as al-Qa’eda could purchase weapons grade uranium and mix it with a detonator as basic as fertiliser to make a deadly device. While an estimated 15kg of uranium is needed to make a nuclear bomb just a small amount is needed for an unconventional device.

“There is no fear of a nuclear bomb coming out of this region but the bigger danger is that a small amount of uranium combined with conventional explosive terrorists could make a dirty bomb that would make an area the size of the City’s Square Mile unusable for 30 or 40 years,” said a security source. “The economic impact would be catastrophic.”

Between half a kg and 2kg of uranium-235 was taken from a physics institute in Abkhazia’s principal town Sukhumi after scientists fled during fighting but was not discovered as missing until four years later in 1997.

But it is not the only incident in the region. A smuggler attempted to sell up to 3kg of uranium in South Ossetia three years ago with a price tag of $1 million per 100 grams. While not enough to make a nuclear device it could contribute to a dirty bomb. The Russian smuggler, from North Ossetia, never had the chance to sell the entire stock after he was arrested by Georgian security forces. The uranium was found to be 90 per cent pure, which is weapons grade standard.

So Georgia stopped Ossetians from selling dirty bomb materials before, but the left here wants us to believe we should be rooting for Russia. I think it’s time for a civil war here.