A security officer at a Belgian nuclear plant has been found dead with his work pass stolen. This disturbing development, revealed by the newspaper Derniere Heure on Saturday, follows concerns that the Brussels bombers wanted to build a radioactive dirty bomb — but apparently shelved the plan after security was stepped up at Belgium’s nuclear plants following intelligence warnings.
The security officer was murdered on Thursday evening as he walked his dog in the city of Charleroi, but news of the killing only emerged on Saturday. His pass was quickly cancelled, according to officials.
Investigators are exploring a theory that the man, who has not been named, was killed to steal his pass and gain access to a nuclear facility. Nuclear power plants are known to be targets for the terror network behind the Brussels bombings and the Paris attacks in November.
The Doel nuclear power station in BelgiumThe Doel nuclear power station in Belgium Photo: EPA/JULIEN WARNAND
Eleven nuclear workers in Belgium had their work passes revoked after intelligence warnings. Ibrahim and Khalid El-Bakraoui, the two brothers believed to have blown themselves up at Brussels airport and a metro station, are also suspected of involvement in an Islamic State plot to make a bomb that could have contaminated a large populated area with radioactive material.
A senior nuclear industry official was secretly filmed by jihadists last year, Belgium’s nuclear authority said, apparently with the intention of abducting him and obtaining radioactive material. The El-Bakraoui brothers were linked to the surveillance of the head of Belgium’s nuclear research and development programme.
However, soldiers were not deployed to guard nuclear facilities until March 4 -- two weeks after the filming was discovered. Despite the revelation of the surveillance on February 17, the interior minister, Jan Jambon, initially rejected the proposal, saying: “Nothing indicates a specific threat to nuclear power plants… This is why we are not planning any military support.”
But the government soon changed its mind and on March 4 approved the deployment of 140 soldiers to guard five nuclear facilities.
A suspect lies on the platform of a tramway station in this image taken from amateur video, after he was shot and wounded by police in the Brussels borough of Schaerbeek
In the hours following the Brussels bombings, two Belgian nuclear power plants were evacuated.
Security measures have been stepped up at France’s many nuclear power plants, a French intelligence source told the Telegraph on Saturday. Workers have been screened for Islamist sympathies and a number had their security passes revoked.
More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/12204863/Brussels-terror-attacks-nuclear-isil-suspects-victims-latest.html
