Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida network may have successfully transported several nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction to the United States, a Pakistani daily has reported. Stating that Pakistani and American investigators were jointly probing the possibility of such an attack when the United Nations General Assembly was on, 'the frontier post', quoting sources close to the investigators, said they have reached a conclusion that at least two briefcase nuclear weapons may have reached the US shores. The investigators have been able to identify at least one briefcase weapon acquired by Al-Qaida from central Asian rogue groups, the report said. It said that the weapon identified was a small eight-kilogram device that carries at least two kgs of fissionable plutonium and uranium. The device, of Russian make, carries a serial number 9999 and manufacturing dated October 1988. Describing the device as simple, the report said that the radioactive materials were kept in separate compartments, on top of which the charging mechanism is placed. The charging mechanism can be activated through a timer or even through a cellphone command, it said. Besides the nuclear devices, Al-Qaida activists are said to be in possession of at least 70 capsules, also of Russian origin, containing a very lethal biological agent.
Broken in a crowded place, this capsule can cause deaths on a huge scale. It melts human body meat to the bone, the report said, adding that another chemical agent the terrorist outfit has was called 'Vipera Lebentina Venema', a derivative of snake poison. Bureau Report