THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it is “working closely” with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) after the arrest last Monday of three individuals involved in the selling of ‘depleted uranium’ (DU) whose actual country of origin is yet to be determined by the authorities.
Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence (DCI) Juvymax Uy, in a message to Pinoy Exposé, confirmed they are now “coordinating” with the office of NBI director Judge Jaime Santiago “to ascertain the source of the depleted uranium.”
During Monday’s press conference, Santiago said the bureau has been working on the case since October after representatives from the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) sought their help in tracking down persons reportedly engaged in the trafficking of DU, a highly radioactive waste material derived from the processing of nuclear weapons grade Uranium 235 (U235) and Uranium 238 (U238) and passing them off as ‘precious metal.’
Subsequently arrested by NBI agents in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in an operation that led them to Pasay City, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, and Dagupan City are: Roy Vistal, allegedly the leader of the group, Mae Vergel Zagala, Vistal’s live-in partner and Arnel Gimpaya Santiago, the group’s alleged ‘salesman.’
The operations are covered by warrants issued by the court, Santiago stressed, adding another suspect is also presently being hunted.
Seized from the suspects are over 100 kilos of DU in powder and black metal bars valued at more than P680 million in the black market as the mining, selling and transport of uranium is highly restricted and governed by several international conventions.
The PNRI also confirmed that all the dwelling units used by the suspects have been found to be heavily contaminated and are now undergoing ‘decontamination procedure.’
The entire operation appears to be shrouded in secrecy with Zagala and Santiago already arrested last October 18 in Pasay City and Vistal, in Cagayan de Oro City last October 28 where some 11 kilos of DU were recovered from them.
A follow up operation in Mandaue City, Cebu province last November 8 and November 9 resulted to the recovery of more than 60 kilos of DU, Santiago said. The suspects allegedly claimed the DU came from Cebu.
The Philippines, however, has no known reserve of uranium and even if it has, does not possess the technology and expertise to mine it safely, leading to suspicion the DU was smuggled into the country from elsewhere and which is now the subject of investigation by the BOC and the NBI.
Terrorist groups are always in the market for DUs as they can be used to manufacture home-based ‘dirty bombs’ whose deadliness lies in its lethal radioactivity, as what Ukraine was discovered to be planning to do last year in a desperate effort to thwart Russia’s military offensive.
DUs are extensively used by the United States and NATO militaries as ammunition and artillery shells for their armor-piercing capability against modern main battle tanks (MBTs) and armored fighting vehicles in their wars of aggression in Libya, Iraq, the former Yugoslavia and now, in Ukraine.
The US has consistently lied about the hazardous and deadly fallout from the use of DU shells especially on civilians when it started giving DU shells to Ukraine in 2023.
This, despite being proven that areas contaminated by DUs saw a spike in cases of leukemia and all sorts of cancer among those living in conflict areas while the ground soil has been found unfit for cultivation for hundreds of years.
U235 and U238 have a ‘half-life’ 704 million years and 4.47 billion years, respectively. A ‘half-life’ determines the period when an atom starts to lose its radioactive lethality.
Santiago said the suspects are already detained and facing charges for violation of RA 5207 otherwise known as ‘Atomic Energy Regulatory and Liability Act’ that Congress passed in 1968.