Police and customs officials in a combined raid, seized one pound of sophisticated uranium worth Rs 100 crore from a bus at Nalhati in Birbhum district of West Bengal, reports reaching here said on Friday.

The officials who were tipped off about suspected smuggling of the contraband on the route, raided a bus that was on its way from Jangipur in Murshidabad district to Barakar in Burdwan, around 170 km from here, and seized the briefcase on Thursday, reports said.

However, the officials who had no inkling of the prized find, were surprised to stumble on a leather bag made of rhinoceros hide with markings: Uranium 100/100, Made in USA , Code-001, Weight 1 pound. An alert was immediately sounded and other district officials were informed and customs officers from Krishnanagar in Nadia rushed to the spot.

The bag was kept at an isolated corner of the bus and none claimed it. The driver and the conductor of the bus have been thoroughly quizzed, but they failed to throw any light on the suspected owner of the consignment.

The bag was later handed over to scientists from the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC), Salt Lake, Kolkata, reports here said.

“We had prior information of some contraband being moved along this route. A joint team of officers from Murshidabad and Nadia conducted the raid,” Bibhas Jana, customs officer, Nalhati said.

Experts suspect the material found in the bag could be some low-grade ore from which radioactive material could be extracted.