Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday rejected UK media reports that a uranium package seized at London’s Heathrow Airport originated from Pakistan, saying the statements were “not factual”.
On Wednesday, British police claimed that a “very small quantity” of uranium was detected in a package that arrived at the Heathrow airport last month. They added it did not appear to be linked to any direct threat and any public health threat.
Pakistan Foreign Office stance on the uranium package
The amount of radioactive material caught during routine scanning on December 29 was extremely small and had been assessed by experts as posing no risk, Richard Smith, head of London police’s Counter Terrorism Command said.
Later, a report by The Sun claimed that the package originated from Pakistan before arriving aboard an Oman Air passenger jet from Muscat. It was understood that the shipment was addressed to an Iranian-linked firm in the UK, the newspaper claimed.
In response to the UK media reports, FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said: “We have seen the media reports. We are confident that the reports are not factual.”
The foreign official spokesperson added that “no information to this effect had been shared with them officially by the UK authorities.”
