Pakistan seeks probe into illegal uranium sale in India.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan on Friday called for investigating repeated incidents of illicit uranium possession and sales in India and emphasised the need for identifying the end-users of the material.

'Pakistan reiterates its call for thorough investigation into such incidents and measures for strengthening the security of nuclear materials to prevent their diversion,' Foreign Office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said while commenting on reports about another attempt by private persons to sell 6kg of uranium in India.

Indian police had arrested a group of seven people in eastern state of Jharkhand's Bokaro city, who were trying to sell about 6kg of uranium. Jharkhand has uranium mines. A uranium processing plant is located at Jaduguda, about 150km from Bokaro city.

This was the second incident of attempted illicit uranium sale in India in 30 days. Last month Indian authorities had seized 7.1kg of natural uranium and arrested two persons from Nagpur. Similar incidents have been reported in the past as well.

Mr Chaudhri said these incidents 'point to lax controls, poor regulatory and enforcement mechanisms, as well as possible existence of a black market for nuclear materials inside India'.

Foreign Office wonders who is end-user of material

He said that the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 and the IAEA Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material make it binding on states to ensure stringent measures to prevent nuclear material from falling into wrong hands.

'It is equally important to ascertain the intent and ultimate user of the attempted uranium sale given its relevance...

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