( dpa )- Scientists were investigating Thursday the composition of 35 kilogrammes of uranium found in Colombia, which leftist rebels in the South American country are suspected of having sought.
The uranium was found Wednesday and was being studied by the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mining (Ingeominas), in an effort to establish the extent to which the material was radioactive.
Ingeominas director Mario Ballesteros said Thursday that the institution would make its conclusions public Friday at the latest.
In Washington, Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), said the OAS would also look into the matter.
But he doubted that the rebels, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), would have had the capacity to process the uranium to a point where it could be dangerous.
The Colombian Defence Ministry said two informants approached the authorities on March 20 with a small amount of uranium in their possession, saying that the material corresponded to a reference found in the computer of "Raul Reyes," FARC's number two.
Reyes was killed in a cross-border raid by Colombian forces on a rebel camp on Ecuadorian territory on March 1.
Ingeominas established that the material was uranium, and experts accompanied security officers Wednesday to the site designated by informants as the hiding place for the rest of the material.
By the side of a road in a mountainous area south-east of Bogota, two packages were found containing 35 kilogrammes of uranium.
Military Forces commander Freddy Padilla said preliminary investigations suggest that the material did not yet belong to FARC and instead belonged to a man known as "Belisario."
A reference to "Belisario" was found in Reyes' computer, and Colombian police director Oscar Naranjo said earlier this month that FARC had been interested in trading in uranium since 2005.
Ballesteros said the analysis of the first sample indicated that it is unenriched uranium.
"Unenriched uranium is an element that is yet to be prepared ... by a costly process, and in order to do that, very sophisticated equipment is needed," he added.
Ballesteros stressed that such equipment is not available in Colombia.
Insulza said he did not think the case was an "imminent problem."
"The whole trick on matters of nuclear weapons consists in enriching uranium," he said.
In addition, he doubted that FARC had the sophisticated missiles to use the uranium in an attack.
"FARC don't have the missiles that other groups have. I would doubt that they have the capacity to enrich uranium. But we will look into the matter, of course," Insulza said.