Borderland Beat
Update Recovered!
Note: While some news reports say the material was found with the truck, other reputable sources say the truck is empty. Universal is reporting the truck was tampered with but that authorities are being secretive if the material was taken, or not. According to Milenio theNational Nuclear Safety Commission of the country, Juan Eibenschutz, initially reported the truck was open and empty, later he was reported as saying the cobalt was dangerous in a mile radius of where it was found in the truck.....
Mexican authorities on Wednesday recovered a truck and the radioactive medical equipment it was hauling to a waste facility when gunmen stole it from a gas station two days ago.
The radioactive material, cobalt-60, was found about a half-mile from the truck and its empty protective lead container near Mexico City, said Juan Eibenschutz, director general of the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards.
Radioactivity was detected in the area, which authorities cordoned off.
The radiotherapy material used in cancer treatment "could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding, or if it was damaged," the International Atomic Energy Agency said earlier.
Direct exposure to the radioactive isotope would result in death within a few minutes, Eibenschutz told the Associated Press.
"This is a radioactive source that is very strong," Eibenschutz said, adding that it can be almost immediately fatal, depending on proximity. "The intensity is very big if it is broken."
Authorities have not said whether any suspects have been found, dead or alive.
Eibenschutz said nothing indicated that the thieves had targeted the material; they most likely waited the white 2007 Volkswagen cargo vehicle with a moveable platform and crane.
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, he said.
Eibenschutz didn't know the exact weight, but that 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, are searching for the truck.
The material was used for obsolete radiation therapy equipment that is being replaced throughout Mexico's public health system. It was coming from the general hospital in Tijuana when it was stolen.
The truck marked "Transportes Ortiz" left Tijuana on Nov. 28 and was headed to the storage facility when it stopped to rest at a gas station in Tepojaco, in Hidalgo state north of Mexico City, driver Valentin Escamilla Ortiz told authorities.
He said he was sleeping in the truck when two men armed 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.
"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, told Reuters.
Authorities sent out an alert to six central states and the capital, and Mexican customs officials were on alert to prevent the truck from crossing the border. All of the U.S. ports of entry have radiation detectors in place, and trucks crossing the border are routinely screened for radiation.
Such unwitting thefts of radioactive materials "are not uncommon," IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor told NBC News.
"In some cases, for example, radioactive sources have ended up being sold as scrap, causing serious health consequences for people who unknowingly come into contact with it," he said.
Original report:
The theft of a truck with a dangerous medical radioactive material in Hidalgo, in central Mexico, Wednesday generated alert Mexican authorities, U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) .
Mexican authorities reported to the IAEA that the truck carrying cobalt-60 used in therapy device of a hospital in the city of Tijuana, was stolen in the early hours of December 2 when it was transported to neighboring State of Mexico.
"At the time of the theft of the truck, the source (radioactive) was properly sealed," the IAEA a statement . "However, the source can be extremely dangerous to a person if the seals are removed, or if they are damaged."
Mexico alerted the IAEA theft following international protocol for such incidents , said Jaime Aguirre Gomez, deputy director of the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards.
The Department of Homeland Security United States said Wednesday that it is working with their Mexican counterparts in the investigation of the theft.
Radioactive material was used in radiotherapy for cancer treatment at a hospital in Tijuana, in northern Mexico, and was no longer in use, he said.
The shield that protects the cobalt-60 is designed so that the radioactive source is difficult to remove, Aguirre said. The housing is designed not to be easily opened or perforated. Cobalt-60 can be used for both medical and industrial purposes, he said.
The vehicle left the Tijuana November 28, on a planned travel distance of about 2,750 kilometers. The driver, Valentin Ortiz Escamilla said he stopped in a parking lot of a gas station to rest when at approximately 01:30 pm (local) two men assaulted him and forced him out of the truck, Notimex reported.
Once it was reported stolen, the Attorney General indicated that Hidalgo initiated an operation to search for the vehicle and the stolen material in which the governments of Querétaro and Mexico State, Hidalgo collaborated.
CNN Mexico-US Today-Associated PressBig thanks for the reader giving a heads up on the update!