Stolen radioactive materials recovered in Selangor
SHAH ALAM Malaysian authorities seized radioactive materials stolen from a scrap metal company at an apartment on Saturday.
The materials, which belong to a company that provides services to oil and gas corporations, are believed to have been stolen earlier last week.
Sources said police and nuclear experts from the Atomic Energy Licensing Board carried out a joint-operation to locate the materials, believed to be iridium 192, after the company lodged a report when it realised the items were missing from its inventory, The New Straits Times reported.
"The teams searching for the radioactive materials detected one at a scrap metal dealer's yard in Kampung Jawa, Klang, and seized it," said a source.
The authorities identified the person who sold it to the dealer, which then led them to an apartment in Shah Alam, where they arrested a man. The raid also recovered more radioactive material, still in its container, in a store near the apartment.
Klang Selatan district police chief Assistant Commissioner Alzafny Ahmad said police arrested several people in connection with the theft, but he declined to specify how many and their identities, as there might be more arrests to follow.
When asked to confirm the type of radioactive materials involved, he only said that the items were very hazardous if leakage were to occur. He declined to reveal anything else, saying that the investigation is ongoing.
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