A homeless woman has been accused of stealing ‘radioactive material’ used in nuclear medicine.
The poisonous material was stolen from the back of a Citroën Berlingo van while the driver was making a delivery.
CCTV images show the 35-year-old suspect opening the vehicle’s back door before apparently swiping the dangerous box on 14 May.
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The driver, who works for the medical supplies company Tecnonuclear, immediately noticed that the container was missing and reported it to the authorities.
The white cardboard box, clearly marked with ‘Thermonuclear’ and ‘Radioactive II’, was later found in a waste container in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
However, the sealed metal container had gone missing.
The medical company confirmed that it was a ‘Type A’ container with Iodine-131, a radioisotope used in nuclear medicine.
They said it had an “activity of 40 mCi at the time of the theft” with a “radiation dose rate of 800 mSv/h”.
A frantic search for the missing substance over the following days proved to be fruitless.
However, the metal container was found by a passerby in the same bin where the empty cardboard box was discarded exactly one week later.
The authorities confirmed it was the missing material and that it had not been tampered with in any way, as reported by Need To Know.
After reviewing the CCTV footage of the nights of 14 and 21 May, the police arrested the homeless woman the day after the container was discovered.
They recognised the young woman as she was wearing the same clothes and sported the same cropped hairstyle.
The police said the suspect was probably unaware of what she was taking from the back of the van.
Nevertheless, she is being kept in police custody as the investigation continues.
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