European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 06, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday septembers 1989 the stars and stripes Page 3 5 arrested in Tokyo after bid to sell uranium to . At inflated Price Tokyo a five japanese have been arrested after trying to sell nearly nine pounds of mostly Low Grade uranium to the . Embassy for 2,000 times the Market Price police and experts said tuesday. The Tokyo metropolitan police department said the group brought a capsule containing about 3.3 ounces of uranium to the . Embassy in Tokyo in Early August and offered 8.8 pounds of the same sub stance for $83 million. The five were arrested Friday for illegal Possession of nuclear substances but they have not been formally charged officials said. If convicted of violating nuclear safety Laws they could face up to a year in prison or a Fine of up to $3.500. Officials identified the ringleader As a 43-year-old woman Toshiko Nishijima who owns several Small companies. Also arrested were Koichi Tsuru 33, presi Dent of a securities firm in Hong Kong Toshitada Mizuno 44, a real estate firm owner Kazutoshi Oka Zaki 44, a master of the traditional japanese Tea Cere Mony and Tomoyuki Nishida 39, owner of a trading company. Takaharu Uchikoshi head of the police depart ment s Public Security Section said the group offered the uranium to the . Embassy because they Proba Bly thought Ordinary people or companies would t buy such an outrageous  upon receiving the uranium Sample the embassy immediately notified the japanese police and hand Dover the substance which was sent to the science and technology Agency for analysis. The Agency concluded that the capsule contained refined natural uranium of 70.7 percent purity. It said less than i percent of the uranium was u 235, the radioactive Clement used for Power generation and for bombs while the rest was u-238, an isotope from which plutonium is produced. Plutonium if refined can be used in nuclear weapons or As reactor fuel. Agency officials said the uranium brought by the group is not harmful to the human body unless it is directly touched or swallowed. An expert said the Price the group demanded shows it did not know the uranium s value. The same Type is being sold at around $275 an ounce making the Price the group demanded More than 2,000 times greater Tolian its Market value. I must say people in the group whoever they Are must be totally ignorant of the use and value of uranium said Kyuji Naito professor of Metal engineering at Nagoya University and a member of the nuclear safety Board a Federal Agency. Uchikoshi said police believe the group was motivated purely by greed. At this Point we have not obtained the remaining uranium and we can t say How Large the entire scheme is said Uchikoshi. But we believe the substance was brought in from abroad and there must be collaborators who helped to smuggle it into  he said police have been questioning the five to determine where the 8.8 pounds of remaining uranium is kept where the substance came from and whether there Are other collaborators. One of them has stated that they bought 4 kilograms 8.8 pounds of uranium from an unidentified person for 5 billion yen $35 million and someone is keeping it at a Cost of 3 million yen $20,690 a Day said Uchikoshi. We believe the remaining uranium is kept somewhere in  the . Embassy declined comment saying therase was not a diplomatic matter but rather a police matter. Police declined to give details of who was contacted at the embassy and How. Blocks strike on eve of segregated s. African vote archbishop Desmond Tutu sprinkles holy water in St. Georges Cathedral in Cape town after claiming that it was desecrated by South african police. With Tutu is the Dean of the Cathedral Colin Jones. Johannesburg South Africa a hundreds of thousands of Blacks went on strike tuesday on the eve of segregated elections and archbishop Desmond Tutu angrily accused police of desecrating his Church in breaking up rallies. Leading anti apartheid groups and the country s two largest Black labor federations have endorsed the planned two Day strike another action in a nationwide Defiance Campaign protesting the exclusion of Blacks from wednesdays parliamentary balloting. The Campaign has included mass strolls by Blacks on Whites Only beaches and anti government demonstrations by Whites and Blacks that police have broken up with tear Gas water Cannon and Batons. On monday police detained Tutu and fellow anti apartheid activist the Rev. Allan Loesak for 90 min utes after they refused to move away from a Cape town Church when police blocked its door with an armoured truck. They have gone berserk Tutu said of police. I want to say to the world that the terrorists in South Africa arc the South african  in the major cities of Johannesburg Durban an Cape town on tuesday students and labor Union members were striking but most other Black workers were on the Job. Rush hour traffic into cities was Only slightly less heavy than usual according to several reports. The National Union of mineworkers the country s largest Union said 78,000 members at 16 mines re fused to go underground for their morning shifts. Tens of thousands of miners were expected to join the strike later in the Day the Union said. Employers in heavily unionized industries said they expected the strike and most have adopted a no work no pay no punishment stance toward the work across the country Black mixed race and Indian schools were closed. Youths built burning tire Street barricades in the townships outside Durban and in Soweto the Black City on the outskirts of Johannes Burg. Two bombs exploded overnight in mixed race areas of Cape town but there were no injuries and damage was minimal police said. Activists tossed two hand grenades at a police Sta Tion in Soweto and gasoline bombs at three Home belonging to Black policemen near Durban. No injuries were reported police said. At the multiracial University of Natal in i Etorma Ril Burg classes were cancelled but about 500 students and administrators held an anti election rally. There is something terribly wrong with those who Rule us if they cannot understand Why such protest is occurring said Colin Webb the White vice principal of the University. Are they so deaf that they cannot hear. The frustration of South africans who arc deprived of the privileges of citizenship in wednesday s election the National party which has ruled South Africa for 41 years is favored to keep control of the dominant White chamber of parliament. However it is Likely to lose scats to both the far right conservative party and the anti apartheid democratic party analysts predict that the nationalists will capture less than 50 percent of the White vote for the first time since 1953. However almost anything above 40 per cent will allow them to win enough individual districts to hold a majority in the White chamber. There also Are polls for the Indian and mixed race Chambers. Blacks who make up 28 million of South Africa s 37 million people arc excluded. Under the country s apartheid policies the 5 million Whites control the Economy and maintain segregated schools neighbourhoods and hospitals. Panamanian says . On the Brink of intervention Belgrade Yugoslavia a Carlos Cozeres vice president of the new panamanian government that is not recognized by the United states charged monday that the . Troops stationed in his country Are on the Brink of a Mili tary  Cozeres who is attending the ninth non aligned Summit in Belgrade told re porters that the United states is trying to frighten us and trigger a spark which would provoke an intervention by its troops in  the first shot May trigger the spark and that s what the  wants he added. . Troops in Panama Are now put on maximum Alert and Are on the Brink of a military intervention he said. President Bush last Friday formally rejected the new panamanian govern ment appointed by Gen. Manuel a. No Riega and said he plans to tighten eco nomic functions against Panama. Bush said there would be no Contact with the new authorities in that country. An elected president was to have been sworn in on Friday in Panama but authorities there voided free elections Heldon May 7 after Independent observers concluded that the anti Noriega Candi Date had won by a landslide. The new panamanian government was formed sept. I so the country would have a leadership Cozeres said. He described the new government As provisional saying that it will stay in Power for at least six months until the situation in Panama is fully  no new elections will be held in Panama until the United states lifts its sanctions and returns what Cozeres estimated arc $500 million of panamanian assets held Frozen in America he said. Once the situation is normalized new elections will be held in Panama Cozeres said. _ Early last year the United states began wit Holdma revenues payable to Panama for operations through its canal linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Among other actions Trade sanctions were imposed and Panama s assets in the United states were Frozen. Cozeres also accused Washington of violating the Panama military treaty charging that the United states has in creased rather than decreased its forces in Panama. We wish to see our country free of military intervention Cozeres said add ing that Panama is currently a Semi in dependent nation because of the . Military presence. Cozeres rejected . Claims that no Riega was involved in illicit drug Traffick ing and said the drug Issue is the prob Lem that should be managed jointly. Noriega is under indictment for drug trafficking by . Authorities who allege he serves As a key connection for colom Bia s cocaine cartels. Cozeres said he Hopes criticism 9f . Policy toward Panama would be included in the resolutions to be adopted thursday at the end of the four Day non aligned Summit