Daily Times

The Foreign Office (FO) Thursday rejected UK media reports that a uranium package seized at London’s Heathrow Airport originated from Pakistan, saying the reports were “not factual”. On Wednesday, British police revealed that a “very small quantity” of uranium was detected in a package that arrived at Heathrow Airport last month. They added it did not appear to be linked to any direct threat or any public health threat. 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 in Pakistan before arriving aboard an Oman Air passenger jet from Muscat. The shipment was addressed to an Iranian-linked firm in the UK, it was understood. In response to media queries on the matter, FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said, “We have seen the media reports. We are confident that the reports are not factual.” The official added that no information to this effect had been shared with them officially by the UK authorities A spokesperson for Scotland Yard told a private news channel, “We can confirm officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were contacted by Border Force colleagues at Heathrow after a very small amount of contaminated material was identified after routine screening within a package incoming to the UK on 29 December 2022.”