The Colonel, Dirty Bombs And £240m Of Uranium

Moldovan police, aided by the FBI, spent six years penetrating the murky world of Russian-linked gangs offering lethal nuclear material to terrorists.

Featuring shadowy kingpins, Russian security service connections, wiretaps woven into fabric and secret meetings to exchange vials of radioactive material, their investigation reads like a script for counter-terrorism thriller 24.

'Enough Caesium to Contaminate Several City Blocks'

In an exclusive nightclub in the Moldovan capital, arms smuggler Valentin Grossu offered his terms: ‎€2.5m for enough radioactive caesium to contaminate several city blocks.

"You can make a dirty bomb, which would be perfect for the Islamic State," he said. "If you have a connection with them, the business will go smoothly."

Grossu said his supplier was a retired FSB officer with a reputation for brutality. If there was any trouble, he warned an informant: "They will put all of us against the wall and shoot us."

The gang - claiming to have a cache of caesium 137 suitable for making a dirty bomb - insisted the customer proved their seriousness by first purchasing less potent radioactive material.

Grossu and two other men were arrested on February 19 - but the suspected FSB officer and the rest of the caesium vanished.

The US-Hating Middleman

Former KGB informant Teodor Chetrus was looking for a Middle Eastern buyer for highly-enriched uranium, which could be used to make a nuclear bomb.

Moldovan police officer Constantin Malic said Chetrus held on to a Soviet-era hatred for the West, ranting about how Americans should be annihilated because of the problems they had caused in the Middle East.

"He said multiple times that this substance must have a real buyer from the Islamic states to make a dirty bomb," Malic said.

Smartly-dressed and cautious, Chetrus was well-educated but lived in a dilapidated farmhouse in a small village on Moldova's border with Ukraine.

He met with a police informant, who wore a recording device hidden in a different piece of clothing each time.

He said he could offer a free sample of plutonium for a "serious" buyer - potentially enough to make a dirty bomb.

At each meeting Malic was watching from the other side of the road - disguised as a migrant selling fruit and grain from a van.

The Colonel And The Deal For £240m Uranium

Chetrus was working for Alexandr Agheenco, aka "The Colonel," who Moldovan police believe is an officer with the KGB's successor organisation, the FSB.

He masterminded the bomb-grade uranium deal from his base in Trans-Dniester, a breakaway republic beyond the reach of Moldovan police.

An agreement was reached to supply an astonishing £240m of uranium - around a fifth of the amount used in the Hiroshima atomic bomb - starting with a small sample for £240,000.

A handover was arranged in Chisinau involving a corrupt police officer and The Colonel's wife Galina, who deposited a 10g sample of the uranium in the parked Lexus.

At a bank in the city, Chetrus, accompanied by the informant, counted out €320,000 in a safe deposit box, using a special light to check if the bills were marked.

But when Chetrus handed over the uranium package, police in balaclavas punced, arresting the middleman and the Colonel's wife.

To the frustration of Malic and his team the early intervention killed off any hope of catching The Colonel and recovering a larger cache of uranium.

The Sudan Connection

A search of Chetrus' house uncovered plans for a dirty bomb and details of a separate deal to sell nuclear material to a real buyer.

Investigators found contracts made out to a Sudanese doctor named Yosif Faisal Ibrahim for attack helicopters and armoured personnel carriers.

There was a copy of Ibrahim's passport, and evidence that Chetrus was trying to help him obtain a Moldovan visa. Skype messages suggested he was interested in uranium and the dirty bomb plans.

The deal was interrupted by the sting, but it looked like it was well advanced. A lawyer working with the criminal ring had even travelled to Sudan, officials said.

But authorities say they could not determine who was behind Ibrahim or why he was seeking material for a nuclear bomb.