DHAKA: Bangladesh police said on Sunday they had arrested 11 people suspected of trying to sell fake uranium as part of an elaborate scam.

In a series of raids in Dhaka on Saturday, police swooped on the gang and recovered a leather box marked “USSR” and containing what some members of the group described as uranium, a senior officer said.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Masudur Rahman said that police would send the hundreds of small objects similar to medical pills inside the box to Bangladesh’s Atomic Energy Commission for testing.

But the spokesman said police suspect the gang was running an elaborate scam aimed at selling the off-white “uranium” tablets for cash.

“After primary investigation we’ve learnt the accused targeted rich people and told them about the demand for uranium in the international market,” a police statement said.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2014