How Russians hawked WMD to IS
Terrifying, but all too real: the FBI have thwarted FOUR plots to sell on deadly ‘dirty bomb’ chemicals to Islamic extremists. And who were the guilty men? Gangsters with links to the FSB – Putin’s spy service
WESTERN security experts believe deadly Russian chemical weapons similar to the Novichok nerve agent used against Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia will be offered for sale on the black market.
Criminals with links to Russian intelligence have tried to sell nuclear material to terrorists such as Islamic State four times in recent years, but have been thwarted by the FBI and other agencies.
The plots to buy radioactive material for the construction of a ‘dirty bomb’ all centred on Moldova, a murky former Soviet republic.
Lax security and endemic corruption in countries such as Moldova raises the chilling spectre of Islamic extremists getting hold of nerve agents or other weapons of mass destruction. Dr Vil Mirzayanov, a Russian former chemist who worked on the Novichok programme before defecting to the US, warned in a report for an influential Washington think-tank: ‘Many American homes have more sophisticated security than was observed at some Russian chemical weapons storage sites.
‘Sooner or later, someone will make the soldiers at these sites a better offer than Moscow does.’
The shadowy online realm of the so-called ‘dark web’, where trades are conducted anonymously in untraceable cyber-currencies, could be the marketplace for such material, experts believe.
Already, four plots to sell radioactive material for a dirty bomb to Islamic extremists have been foiled by investigators working with the FBI since 2010, all in Moldova, where investigators believe gangs with links to the Russian secret police (FSB) run a ‘nuclear black market’. The most serious case was in 2011, led by Alexandr Agheenco, known as The Colonel, and believed to be a serving or former officer with the FSB.
A middle-man was recorded arranging the sale of bomb-grade Uranium-235 and blueprints for a dirty bomb to an Islamic extremist from Sudan. Investigating Moldovan detective Constantin Malic recalled: ‘He told our informant, “I want an Islamic buyer because they will bomb the Americans.”’
Arrests were made but The Colonel is still believed to be at large.
Dirty bombs combine radioactive material with conventional explosives and would cause mass casualties and an economic meltdown if detonated in a major city. Tests show the kinds of nuclear material being offered to terrorists would make affected areas unsafe for at least a year.
The threat of chemical weapons or nerve agents also looms large.
Sources close to the FBI say they have been deeply concerned about the sale of weapons from Russia’s chemical stockpile since they received Dr Mirzayanov’s expert analysis in the mid-1990s. He concluded: ‘Russian chemical weapon storage facilities unquestionably appear to be vulnerable to attack from outside and theft from within.’
The weak link, he said, was ‘Ivan’ – the poorly paid and unmotivated individual soldier. ‘Theft appears to be possible if Ivan is so inclined; if a colleague and Ivan conspire; or if an outsider co-opts or disables Ivan.’ His final warning was ominous: ‘Failure to improve the security at Russian chemical weapons storage facilities increases the odds that a chemical agent will find its way into an ethnic conflict, subway system or building somewhere.’
In the most recent case in Chisinau, Moldova, in 2015, smuggler Valentin Grossu offered a huge cache of deadly Caesium and specifically sought a buyer from IS. When arrested, he was in possession of a vial of lowergrade Caesium-135 – not suitable for a dirty bomb. Investigator Mr Malic added: ‘As long as the smugglers think they can make big money without getting caught, they will keep doing it.’ From the first known Moldovan case in 2010 to the most recent one in February 2015, the pattern was identical: suspects were arrested in the early stages of a deal, giving the ringleaders a chance to escape with their nuclear contraband – an indication that the threat from the nuclear black market in the Balkans is far from under control.
Gangs with FSB links run a nuclear black market