Counter-terror officials warn: Islamic State seeks nuclear, biological materials

LONDON, April 20 (UPI) -- Islamic State militants are seeking biological and nuclear materials to build rudimentary weapons of mass destruction, European counter-terrorism chiefs warned at a conference Tuesday.

Officials, speaking at the Security & Counter Terror Expo, said IS is focusing on carrying out terror attacks in the West.

"We know terrorists are trying to acquire these substances," said Jamie Shea, deputy assistant secretary general for emerging security threats at NATO.

Last month, Belgian investigators reported that during searches of the Brussels apartment of Salah Abdeslam, one of the Paris attackers, the documents relating to the nuclear research center near the Belgian border in northwest Germany.

According to nuclear scientists, only 10 grams of radiological material would be required for a so-called "dirty bomb," which combines radioactive material and conventional explosives.

Counterterrorism experts at the conference said IS might be splitting into two factions -- one focused on Syria and Iraq, and the other on attacks on the West.

The 240 exhibitors at the expo included drone makers and bomb disposal and border security specialists. They displayed facial recognition technology, data protection and bomb-detection equipment.

"We've certainly seen more demand for this technology than ever before. Clearly the global security context is accelerating that," said Zak Doffman, chief executive of Digital Barriers, told Phys.org. His British company is behind the ThruVis scanner that was demonstrated at the expo.

Unlike traditional airport security gates, the scanner can be hidden as people walk past.

Europol chief Rob Wainwright also spoke at the conference, calling the recent attacks in Paris and Brussels "the most serious international terror threat that we've seen for a generation."