Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Dirty bombs and cocaine

The recent news out of Reuters is potentially alarming:

Colombia's FARC guerrilla movement was trying to get hold of radioactive material to make a "dirty bomb", Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos said on Tuesday.

That itself is a vague claim. If we go back to October, we find a likely connection between cocaine and plutonium by following the money. FARC is big in the cocaine trade, so this is one possible route by which FARC could have sought a dirty bomb.

Authorities in Italy are investigating a mafia clan accused of trafficking nuclear waste and trying to make plutonium.
The 'Ndrangheta mafia [...] has been accused by investigators of building on its origins as a kidnapping gang to become Europe's top cocaine importer, thanks to ties to Colombian cartels. But the nuclear accusation, if true, would take it into another league.

It's not clear to me why FARC would want a dirty bomb in the first place. Their apparent ally in Venezuela, Chavez, could want one in order to deter potential US invasion.

No comments: