German authorities made the biggest seizure yet of bomb-grade plutonium, and the alarmed government on Saturday sought talks with Moscow on the growing problem of nuclear smuggling from Russia.

Two Spaniards and a Colombian man were arrested at Munich airport Wednesday when they arrived from Moscow carrying plutonium in their luggage.Police confirmed the arrests Saturday after two German magazines, Der Spiegel and Focus, reported the discovery.

Security sources told The Associated Press the seizure was 500 grams, or just over a pound.

Focus also reported that amount, but Der Spiegel said it was one tenth of that - 1.75 ounces.

Experts have speculated that just over two pounds of the extremely pure plutonium-239, in the hands of an expert with sophisticated equipment, could be fashioned into a nuclear bomb.

It was the third instance in which bomb-quality plutonium had been confiscated in Germany.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl, calling the nuclear smuggling a "grave danger," said Saturday he had already exchanged letters with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and planned to talk with the Kremlin leader as soon as he returns to Bonn. Kohl is vacationing in Austria.

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Kohl said he wanted to send an envoy to Moscow to help trace the origin of the plutonium and prevent further smuggling.

Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel called for a new comprehensive system of controls and urged Russia and neighboring states to step their own controls.

The men arrested Wednesday were probably couriers for "underpaid Russian atomic scientists," the Bavarian interior minister, Guenter Beckstein, told Der Spiegel in excerpts released Saturday.

German authorities suspect that the nuclear materials ultimately could be bound for terrorist groups or such countries as Iran, Iraq or Libya.

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