Date of arrest: July 4, 1994 Amount of material: 800 milligrams of uranium powder (87.7% enrichment) The trail of underground dealing revealed by FRONTLINE's investigation culminated with the trader Gustav Illich receiving a sample of 90% enriched HEU. On June 13, Illich and two other men met with the German undercover agent Boden at a hotel in Landshut, Germany. They handed over a metal cylinder containing a glass vial which held 800 milligrams of a gray/brown powder. Analysis revealed it to be weapons grade uranium. The next day, Illich received a call telling him that the sample was good. Illich and Boden met at a bank in Prague, Boden accompanied by his "secretary," another police agent. Boden showed Illich 340,000 German marks in a safe deposit box. The bank was filled with Czech police officers working closely with Germans, the Czechs even provided the cash that Boden showed. The "sellers" Illich represented were supposed to come and look at cash themselves, but they were nervous, and didn't show up. After the meeting, Czech cops tailed Illich to Neimec's flat. Over next few weeks, Boden and Illich discussed over the phone how to transfer the material. On July 4, at 10:30 am, Illich phoned Boden and told him that he had the material at a rest stop near the Czech border in a town called Fierhofen and that Boden should come in 90 minutes. Boeden arrived at 12:45. Illich came over with two other men, including the trader, Vaclav Havlik. One of the three men removed a single uranium pellet from inside an attache case. Boden gave the signal for the cops to move in. Less than a gram of bomb-quality uranium 235 had been passed to undercover German agents in Landshut on June 13. The agents expected that a larger quantity of the same material would be delivered at the rest area in Fierhofen. Instead, on July fourth, the traders brought low enriched (4-6%) reactor fuel pellets. Having planned to make the arrest in advance, the cops moved in as soon as one pellet was shown to the "buyer." Because they were technically transporting radioactive material, the police were forced to arrest Illich, Havlik, and the man who had accompanied them, even though they hadn't recovered the rest of weapons grade uranium they had been about to sell. Although there was only a small quantity of weapons-grade HEU handed over by Illich in Landshut, the case is significant because it was the first hard evidence there really might be more bomb-grade material stashed somewhere. Although the trail of traders is tangled, it is possible to trace this chain of nuclear contraband back to Eduard Baranov in Obninsk. Where he got the uranium is still a mystery. [SEE ILLICH & HAVLIK INTERVIEWS] Maps  ·  Timeline  ·  Interviews  ·  FAQS  ·  Links Readings  ·  Reactions  ·  Tapes and Transcripts Explore FRONTLINE web site copyright 1995-2008 WGBH educational foundation