LONDON, 3 October 2004 — Three men charged under Britain’s anti-terrorism laws on suspicion of seeking to obtain radioactive material to make a nuclear device made a brief first appearance yesterday before a London court. Roque Flaviano Fernandes, 43, Dominic Agnelo Martins, 44, and Abdurahman Ranyare, 52, were remanded in custody pending their next court appearance, set for Nov. 1.
Police originally detained four men but one was released without charge. The three were charged Friday under Britain’s main anti-terrorist law, police said, in the wake of a sting operation involving a gang that was allegedly looking to buy material for a radioactive “dirty bomb”.
“All are charged under section 17 of the Terrorism Act 2000 that they entered into, or became concerned in, an arrangement as a result of which money or other property was made available, or was to be made available to another, and knew or had reasonable cause to suspect, that it will or may be used for the purposes of terrorism,” the police said.
The three were arrested last Friday, two days before the News of the World newspaper reported that it had infiltrated a gang that was looking to buy a kilogram of “red mercury” — a Soviet-era material which it said could be used to make a handheld radioactive bomb.
Its reporter was told that the material was being sought by an unidentified Saudi, “for use here in the United Kingdom or in the United States”, who was ready to pay $541,000 for it.
