Scary theft

Hunt on in Mexico for stolen radioactive load
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RODRIGO SOBERANES, AP
50 minutes ago
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This image released Wednesday Dec. 4, 2013 by the National Commission on Nu...
VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — A cargo truck hauling extremely dangerous radioactive material from used medical equipment was stolen from a gas station in Mexico, and authorities put out an alert in six central states and the capital to find it, Mexican officials said Wednesday.

The truck was carrying a metal container of cobalt-60 headed to a nuclear waste facility in the state of Mexico, said Juan Eibenschutz, director general of the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards.

Though the container is heavily sealed in lead and designed to be difficult to break into and to survive accidents intact, it contains an amount of radioactive material that could do serious damage if opened, Eibenschutz said. Direct exposure would result in death within a few minutes, he said.

"This is a radioactive source that is very strong," Eibenschutz told The Associated Press, adding that it can be almost immediately fatal, depending on proximity. "The intensity is very big if it is broken."

Eibenschutz didn't know the exact weight, but said it was the largest amount stolen in recent memory, and the intensity of the material caused the alert. Local, state and federal authorities, including the military, were searching for the truck.

The material was used in obsolete radiation therapy equipment that is being replaced throughout Mexico's public health system. It was coming from the general hospital in the northern border city of Tijuana, Eibenshutz said.

The thieves most likely wanted the white 2007 Volkswagen cargo vehicle with a moveable platform and crane, he said.

Eibenschutz said there was nothing so far to indicate the theft of the cobalt was intentional or in any way intended for an act of terrorism.

The thieves likely didn't know what the truck was carrying, and might have discarded the metal container, which is about a meter square, he said.

"If someone finds a big chunk of metal with radiation symbols all over it, they should notify us immediately and don't open it," Eibenschutz said.

The truck marked "Transportes Ortiz" left Tijuana on Nov. 28 and was headed to the storage facility when the driver stopped to rest at a gas station in Tepojaco, in Hidalgo state north of Mexico City.

The driver, Valentin Escamilla Ortiz, told authorities he was sleeping in the truck when two men with a gun approached about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. They made him get out, tied his hands and feet and left him in a vacant lot nearby.

When he was able to free himself, he ran back to the gas station to get help.

The truck has a GPS locator but it wasn't active at the time of the theft, Eibenschutz said.

Mexican customs officials were on alert to prevent the truck from crossing the border, Eibenschutz said. He said the material could not be used to make a nuclear bomb, but could be used in a dirty bomb, a conventional explosive that disseminates radioactive material.

All of the U.S. ports of entry have radiation detectors in place and trucks crossing the border are routinely screened for radiation.

On average, a half dozen thefts of radioactive materials are reported in Mexico each year and none have proven to be aimed at the cargo, Eibenschutz said. He said that in all the cases the thieves were after shipping containers or the vehicles.

Unintentional thefts of radioactive materials are not uncommon, said an official familiar with cases reported by International Atomic Energy Agency member states, who was not authorized to comment on the case. In some cases, radioactive sources have ended up being sold as scrap, causing serious harm to people who unknowingly come into contact with it.

In a Mexican case in the 1970s, one thief died and the other was injured when they opened a container holding radioactive material, he said.

The container was junked and sold to a foundry, where it contaminated some steel reinforcement bars made there. Eibenschutz said all foundries in Mexico now have equipment to detect radioactive material.

Originally Posted by Lucille

"If someone finds a big chunk of metal with radiation symbols all over it, they should notify us immediately and don't open it,".

I guess sometimes the obvious needs stating.

Originally Posted by Magic

I guess sometimes the obvious needs stating.

Darwinism at work!!!!

By Gabriela Martinez and Joshua Partlow, Published: December 4 | Updated: Thursday, December 5, 10:35 AM E-mail the writer
MEXICO CITY — The day after a load of stolen radioactive material was found in a field, Mexican authorities had formed a perimeter around the area and were measuring for contamination as they planned the recovery process Thursday, according to Mexican news reports.

Federal police and soldiers formed a cordon of several hundred yards around the highly radioactive container of cobalt-60, stolen earlier in the week in a carjacking as the material was being moved from a public hospital n the border town of Tijuana to a storage facility in central Mexico, news reports said.


The carjackers, who set off international alarm bells by absconding with the material, most likely had no idea what they were stealing and will probably die soon from exposure, Mexican authorities said at the end of a brief national scare.

The prospect that material that could be used in a radioactive dirty bomb had gone missing sparked an urgent two-day hunt, which concluded Wednesday afternoon when the cobalt-60, used in hospital radiotherapy machines, was found along with the stolen Volkswagen truck. Mexican officials said no public health risk remained.

The driver of the cargo truck and his assistant worked for a licensed private company, and the lethal radioactive substance was sealed in the back, according to news reports.

The truck, equipped with a crane, was nearing its destination early Tuesday morning, several hours before the storage facility opened. While waiting for daybreak at a gas station in the state of Hidalgo, north of Mexico City, the drivers were jumped by two gunmen who beat them and stole the truck, said Mardonio Jimenez, a physicist and high-ranking official with Mexico’s nuclear safety commission.

With lethal radioactive material on the loose, Mexican authorities posted a lookout across six states. The International Atomic Energy Agency warned that the material “could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed” from its casing.

“I believe, definitely, that the thieves did not know what they had,” Jimenez said. “They were interested in the crane, in the vehicle.”

The cobalt-60 was found, removed from its casing, in a rural area near the town of Hueypoxtla, about 25 miles from where the truck was stolen. Jimenez said he suspected that curiosity got the better of the thieves, and they opened the box. So far the carjackers have not been arrested, but authorities expect they will not live long.


“The people who handled it will have severe problems with radiation,” he said. “They will, without a doubt, die.”

Originally Posted by Lucille

So far the carjackers have not been arrested, but authorities expect they will not live long.

“The people who handled it will have severe problems with radiation,” he said. “They will, without a doubt, die.”

Pretty certain the car-jackers wont be doing it again then.... Glad it was found though.

(I'm seeing a huge increase in anti-car-theft radiation markers.....)

Perhaps they should seed the roads with more truckloads of this nature. Might help weed out some of those undesirables in a hurry.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Perhaps they should seed the roads with more truckloads of this nature. Might help weed out some of those undesirables in a hurry.

If the thief puts the radioactive material in a satchel to investigate later why just a small item was so securely enclosed and goes to a restaurant, school, or hospital before he/she dies, there is the potential of many deaths of innocent people.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Perhaps they should seed the roads with more truckloads of this nature. Might help weed out some of those undesirables in a hurry.

I doubt it would reduce the amount of car thefts. I predict what would happen is we would see an increase in carjackings wherein the perpetrator was wearing a protective suit.

Originally Posted by Lucille

If the thief puts the radioactive material in a satchel to investigate later why just a small item was so securely enclosed and goes to a restaurant, school, or hospital before he/she dies, there is the potential of many deaths of innocent people.

Easy solution... Just use a stronger radioactive isotope that incapacitates quicker.

I've got absolutely no sympathy for thieves of any sort.

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Easy solution... Just use a stronger radioactive isotope that incapacitates quicker.

I've got absolutely no sympathy for thieves of any sort.

I understand. But one cannot set deadly traps for thieves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katko_v._Briney