Uranium smugglers face justice

[taabarang]

Another "you just can't make this up"

http://m.phnompenhpost.com/national/phn ... um-vietnam#

[Anchor Moy]

Another "you just can't make this up"

http://m.phnompenhpost.com/national/phn ... um-vietnam#

Another Only in Cambodia. This time they surpass themselves.

Ministry of Interior official Hy Pru, who headed the operation against the four suspects, declined to elaborate on why the substance was suspected to be uranium.

“The substance has been transferred to the Ministry of Defence for testing, so please contact them,” he said.

An official at the National Authority for Chemical Weapons, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, also said the substance has not been tested.

“We don’t have the equipment to test it. We requested to get it tested at the [Cambodian Mine Action Center], but CMAC also doesn’t have the equipment,” he said.

[CEOCambodiaNews]

From the link:
10 January 2018
- A bizarre trial involving four men accused of smuggling uranium from Vietnam – despite the seeming impossibility of the liquid solvent in question actually being the highly radioactive metallic element – began yesterday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

What’s more, despite the accusation implying that a tightly regulated toxic material sought by terrorists had been spirited into Cambodia from a neighbouring country, authorities yesterday said that they have still not tested the substance nearly a year and a half since the men were arrested.

Chea Yu, a 44-year-old construction worker, was charged with the crime of possessing a substance used to produce chemical, nuclear, biological or radioactive weapons. Chan Thoeun, Tit Raksmey, and Dy Vibol were named as accomplices. Each of the men faces five to 10 years in prison.

“What was the substance? What was your master plan? Where did you want to destroy?” Presiding Judge Than Leng asked Yu, who professed that allegations the substance was “uranium” were news to him...

Thoeun, a motodop, said he met Raksmey, a farmer, in a Phnom Penh café. The latter then connected with taxi driver Dy Vibol. Eventually, the group of four found buyers in Stung Treng province, and met them along with five others on August 30, 2016...

[CEOCambodiaNews]

The Khmer Times version:
Men tried over dangerous liquid
10 January
- Four men were tried by Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday for allegedly selling two litres of a liquid used to produce chemical and nuclear weapons for $3.3 million in Phnom Penh in 2016.

Presiding judge Seng Leang identified the accused as 44-year-old Vietnamese national Chea You, 32-year-old Cambodian Dy Vibol and two Khmer Krom, 58-year-old Chan Thoeun and 44-year-old Tith Reaksmey.

He said they were all charged with producing and transporting liquid used to produce chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, arms and radiation.

The judge added that they were arrested on August 30, 2016, by the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug police in Kakab commune in Phnom Penh’s Por Senchey district.
“They were arrested after they tried to sell the liquid – used to make chemical and nuclear weapons and radiation – for $3.3 million to undercover police,” he said.
Police seized two bottles of the liquid from them after their arrests, the judge added.

At yesterday’s trial, the four men confessed to selling the liquid to undercover police but claimed they didn’t know what it was used for...
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50101010/me ... us-liquid/

[pczz]

The Khmer Times version:
Men tried over dangerous liquid
10 January
- Four men were tried by Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday for allegedly selling two litres of a liquid used to produce chemical and nuclear weapons for $3.3 million in Phnom Penh in 2016.

Presiding judge Seng Leang identified the accused as 44-year-old Vietnamese national Chea You, 32-year-old Cambodian Dy Vibol and two Khmer Krom, 58-year-old Chan Thoeun and 44-year-old Tith Reaksmey.

He said they were all charged with producing and transporting liquid used to produce chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, arms and radiation.

The judge added that they were arrested on August 30, 2016, by the Interior Ministry’s anti-drug police in Kakab commune in Phnom Penh’s Por Senchey district.
“They were arrested after they tried to sell the liquid – used to make chemical and nuclear weapons and radiation – for $3.3 million to undercover police,” he said.
Police seized two bottles of the liquid from them after their arrests, the judge added.

At yesterday’s trial, the four men confessed to selling the liquid to undercover police but claimed they didn’t know what it was used for...
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50101010/me ... us-liquid/

I would not be at all suspicious that I was being roped into something illegal if someone offered me $330,000 to sell 2 litres of a liquid as stated in the article. I wonder if they glow in the dark yet?

[Kuroneko]

"Mai had told Yu the substance was an “acid used to test gold” that was worth $400,000 per litre, though a police report read in court stated that authorities believed the substance was uranium."http://m.phnompenhpost.com/national/phn ... um-vietnam

The acid used to test gold is Aqua Regia a mixture of Nitric and Hydrochloric acid it is also used in the refining of gold. Probably worth about $50/L.

However if the liquid had already been used in the gold extraction process there could be up to 7 ounce of dissolved gold in the liquid. At present gold is worth $1,320.60 per ounce so assuming the liquid has 7 ounces of dissolved gold, the bottle would be worth up to $9,244.20.

Picture of small gold refining plant here http://www.fioainternational.com/en/gol ... alf-price/

A bit on DIY gold recovery here: How do you reform solid gold after dissolving it in aqua regia? https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-reform ... aqua-regia

[CEOCambodiaNews]

Bizarre indeed.
‘Uranium’ court case to be reinvestigated
26 January 2018
A bizarre trial in which four people were accused of smuggling “uranium” into Cambodia – purportedly in liquid form, in plastic bottles whose contents were never tested – will be sent back to the investigative phase, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge ordered yesterday.

“Having listened to the accused, lawyers and the prosecutor, the court decides to order a reinvestigation of the case [and] requests for the result of the test on the confiscated substance and review of the relevant evidence,” Judge Seng Leang said yesterday.

Leang also assigned himself to be the investigating judge on the case.

Defendant Chea Yu, a 44-year-old construction worker, was charged with the crime of possessing a substance used to produce chemical, nuclear, biological or radioactive weapons. Chan Thoeun, Tit Raksmey, and Dy Vibol are named as accomplices, and if convicted, all four could face five to 10 years in prison.

However, little evidence was presented to support the charges, as authorities never tested the substance in question in the almost year and half since the four were arrested and put in pre-trial detention.

The substance in question was a liquid transported in plastic water bottles, despite uranium being a metal that enters a liquid state at 1,132 degrees Celsius.

Speaking in court at the start of the trial a few weeks ago, Yu claimed he was given the substance by a man in Vietnam named “Mai”, who connected him with Thoeun, a motodop, to find buyers for substance.

Yu was told the substance was an “acid used to test gold” worth $400,000 per litre.

Thoeun, in turn, met Raksmey, a farmer, in Phnom Penh, who found taxi driver Dy Vibol. The group of four then found buyers for the substance in Stung Treng and arranged to meet them and five others on August 30, 2016.

At the meeting, the substance was poured on a metal nail, which dissolved. Police then swooped in and arrested the four, saying in their report that the substance was “uranium”. Officials involved have yet to explain that conclusion and the Ministry of Defence, to whom the substance was handed over, never had it tested.

The four defence lawyers contended there was no evidence the substance was uranium, noting that their clients, and the police handling it, would likely be dead if it were.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/u ... vestigated

[pczz]

Welll there you go. A Cambodian judge making a sensible decision in a case, based on the evidence. Its not all doom and gloom

[Luigi]

''a man in Vietnam named “Mai”, who connected him with Thoeun, a motodop, to find buyers for substance.

And why would you go anywhere else but a motodop to sell....WTF is this shit? I'm still unclear.
But as long as the judges are satisfied all is well.

[Arget]

''a man in Vietnam named “Mai”, who connected him with Thoeun, a motodop, to find buyers for substance.

And why would you go anywhere else but a motodop to sell....WTF is this shit? I'm still unclear.
But as long as the judges are satisfied all is well.

To the blokes outside FCC. Only place to get a buyer in PP..............