MEXICO CITY – A missing shipment of cobalt-60 was located near where a stolen truck that was transporting the material was found abandoned in Mexico. Whoever stole the truck will die in the next few days if they were exposed to the package that contained the material used in medical treatments.
Authorities were initially scared that the thieves may have stolen the truck to use in a dirty bomb, but Mexican officials have stated that there is no longer any fear of a public health risk. The cargo truck had been held hostage by two gunmen who beat the driver and made off with the shipment, most likely unaware of what was inside.
Mardonio Jimenez, a physicist and high-ranking official with Mexico’s nuclear safety commission said, “I believe, definitely, that the thieves did not know what they had; they were interested in the crane, in the vehicle.”
The cobalt-60 was found removed from its casing about 25 miles from where the truck was stolen. The opened box means a death sentence for anyone who was near it. “The people who handled it will have severe problems with radiation,” Jiminez said. “They will, without a doubt, die.”
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