Radioactive isotopes seized from passenger on Moscow-Tehran flight

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED December 17, 2011

Customs officers at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport seized nuclear isotopes from a passenger on a flight to Tehran, the Federal Customs Service said on Friday.

"A stationary radiation control system activated during customs control of Moscow-Tehran flight passengers," the Russian customs service said in a statement. "The luggage search revealed 18 metallic objects of industrial origin, each packed in an individual steel container."

Initial radioactive screening showed that radiation was 20 times higher than the natural background level.

"Further tests revealed that the objects contained radioactive machine-produced isotopes of Sodium-22, which can be obtained only in particle accelerators (cyclotrons)," the statement reads.

A criminal case was launched. The passenger's identity and citizenship was not disclosed.

Topics: Isotopes, Russia, Iran

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