Mexico finds stolen truck that carried radioactive material: officialBy Fredrik Dahl and Lizbeth Diaz
VIENNA/MEXICO CITY Wed Dec 4, 2013 6:35pm EST
(Reuters) - Mexican police have found a truck they suspect was stolen by common thieves and carried a dangerous radioactive medical material the United Nations said could provide an ingredient for a "dirty bomb," a government official said.
The truck was found on Wednesday close to where it was stolen outside Mexico City, said the official, who asked not to be identified in line with policy. He could not confirm whether the cargo was aboard.
The truck was stolen on Monday while it was taking cobalt-60 from a hospital in the northern city of Tijuana to a radioactive waste-storage center, Mexican officials and the UN agency said earlier.
The vehicle was seized when the driver stopped at a gas station in the town of Temascalapa, 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Mexico City.
Mexican officials say the thieves were likely common criminals unaware of the truck's radioactive cargo. Truck hijacking is common in Mexico and the theft occurred in the State of Mexico, which is not a drug cartel stronghold.
"Our suspicion is that they had no idea what they had stolen. This is a area where robberies are common," Fernando Hidalgo, spokesman for the Hidalgo state prosecutor, said earlier.
Mexico's national nuclear safety commission CNSNS published photographs of the cargo as it was being prepared for shipment, showing a reinforced case containing the medical device, which holds the radioactive material and which looks like part of a car axle. The box is marked with the hospital's name and "radioactive materials."
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