Five people were arrested in India's remote northeastern state of Meghalaya for allegedly trying to smuggle uranium, police said Thursday.

The arrests came after a man was found with a parcel containing a powdery substance about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from state capital Shillong.

"We seized the packet from the village headman and took him into custody. Later we arrested four other people in the same case," M. Kharkrang, police chief of the West Khasi Hills district, said by telephone.

Police suspected the contents to be uranium and sent them for tests, they said.

Five people were arrested in May for allegedly trying to sell a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of uranium for 2.6 million rupees (57,000 dollars).

Surveys by India's Atomic Energy Department estimate the Domiasiat area of Meghalaya could hold up to 375,000 tonnes of uranium ore deposits.

Uranium ore has to be cleaned and processed before it becomes useable as nuclear reactor fuel to generate electricity. It has to go through further enrichment before it can be used to develop weapons.

The state-run Uranium Corporation of India stopped mining in Meghalaya in the mid-90s following violent protests from villagers and pressure groups over health fears.

India has been trying to secure uranium to fuel its civilian nuclear atomic plants.

Last weekend, New Delhi secured a waiver from the Vienna-based Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls global atomic commerce, to buy nuclear power plants, technology and fuel to power its economic growth.