20/11/2010 12:52
Georgia arrests suspects trying to sell radioactive material
Georgian police have arrested four people in the capital Tbilisi for trying to sell radioactive substance cesium-137, the interior ministry said Friday, according to RBK.ru.
“We discovered that somebody was offering cesium-137 for sale, conducted an operation and seized the substance,” Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.
“Four people were arrested,” he said, adding that cesium-137 was a “fairly common substance” and that the operation had been routine.
He could not specify how much of the material had been seized.
Cesium-137 is a by-product of nuclear fission that is used on industrial sites and for medical devices but could also be used to make dirty bombs with the potential to spread radiation.