FSB: Smugglers of Radioactive Isotope Busted

By Staff, Agencies

The Russian Security Service [FSB] announced arresting a group of would-be smugglers of the radioactive isotope Cesium-137.

It further added that if the operation had been successful, the dangerous material would have been used for a provocation against Russia in the Ukraine conflict zone.

Five individuals were caught red-handed by FSB agents with support from Interior Ministry officers, the statement reported. The group was acting “with coordination by a Ukrainian citizen” and was willing to pay $3.5 million for one kilogram of the product, it said.

Footage released by the service showed the scene of the purported exchange. The buyers were presented with a heavy container that required four men to carry and put inside a car trunk. Officers subsequently went in to make arrests. Parts of the video were blurred to hide the faces of those involved.

The foreign party that sought to procure Cesium-137 in Russia intended to use it “to conduct an information-propaganda campaign to discredit the country internationally by staging scenes of the use of weapons of mass destruction,” the statement claimed.