Along with the smuggling of weapons from the category of substances, trade with the dual-use equipment is another of the nuclear aspects of trafficking. In 1992-93 a large-scale operation as a result of the transfer of 4.4 tons of beryllium in Yekaterinburg in Vilnius, Lithuania, submitted evidence that established organized crime groups are involved in "commercial" export of dual- isotopes. International markets for these substances are bigger and better than those established for radioactive materials and professional penalties for the smuggling of dual-use items are less strict. The expedition was funded by renowned Yuri Alekseyev, a businessman and political figure with close ties to Ekaterinburg Ekaterinburg underworld of crime. The Sinyaki, a major professional group in Yekaterinburg, the renowned as a strategic asset of routes of metals, including categories of dual-use items. Other observers believe that the majority of Chechen gangs in Moscow on tsentralen 'Naya group also occasionally trafficking of nuclear materials. a While in the past the majority of stolen nuclear materials were moved to the west. Chechen connection indicates a possible change in the levels of southern Russia.
In the Caucasus and central Asia is traditionally the focus of organized crime and drug trafficking. the region could easily become a large area of open trade if proliferation. a Even if the arms trade more material could be easily contained, wide availability of toxic radioactive materials is a major threat in itself. a In the hands of terrorists, even ordinary reactor waste could become a weapon. Combined in a dispersal device, together with conventional explosives.