ANKARA, Sept 29: The amount of uranium seized by Turkish police was “no more than a hundred grams” and not 15 kilograms as previously reported, an official source said on Sunday.

Police confiscated the radioactive material and arrested two men for trafficking in the southwestern town of Sanliurfa on Saturday.

The sealed lead tube — which accounted for most of the 15.7-kilogramme (nearly 35 pounds) weight given in earlier reports from the Anatolia news agency — is to be sent to Ankara’s atomic energy department for analysis.

“The radioactive substance weighs no more than a hundred grams (three ounces), or even less,” the source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that its purity — and therefore its potential suitability for building weapons — had not yet been established.—AFP