Society

Teenager, 2 men referred to prosecutors over online uranium trade

Dec 11 (Japan Today) - Police referred a 17-year-old high school student and two men to prosecutors on Tuesday over their alleged involvement in the online trading of uranium in violation of Japanese law regulating nuclear materials.

The male teenager from Tokyo and a 61-year-old pharmacist in Ibaraki Prefecture are suspected of purchasing the chemicals from a 24-year-old temporary worker in Nagano Prefecture on an online auction site between October 2017 and January 2018, the Metropolitan Police Department said.

The purchasers paid between 5,000 yen and 30,000 yen for uranium substances that emitted minute amounts of radiation, the police said.

According to investigative sources, the temporary worker sold small amounts of depleted uranium and natural uranium in glass tubes on a Yahoo online auction site, and has told the police he purchased the uranium through an overseas website.

Japan's laws on nuclear materials ban people other than approved businesses and organizations from trading nuclear fuel materials such as high-grade uranium.

All three have admitted to the charges and said they were motivated by an interest in chemistry and had no intention to use the materials for any unlawful purposes, the sources said.

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