ALMATY, September 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Central Asia may be used by terrorists as transit of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, head of the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center (ATC) Andrei Novikov said on Tuesday.
Novikov told a meeting of the heads of the CIS security and intelligence agencies that reports about incidents of stealing ionizing radiation sources, loss of control of facilities that use radioactive materials in their operation have been coming from various regions of the world recently.
According to the ATC head, a statement made by the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) this June to the effect it has access to nuclear weapons and intended to use them, is a clear example of this. He said IS militants have taken control of Iraq’s second largest city - Mosul, where they allegedly seized tens of kilograms of nuclear materials.
“They have also seized assets worth about $1 billion. There are reasonable grounds to believe that a terrorist will not have financial difficulties regarding the attraction of the relevant specialists and purchase of equipment,” the ATC head said.
“We also take into account another potential threat - the possible use of the CIS states’ territories, in particular, the Central Asian region, for the transit of nuclear materials and other dangerous substances, as well as technologies and equipment related to mass destruction weapons,” Novikov said.