CCTV footage from the dirty nuke bust
Police in South Africa have arrested four men who attempted to sell an undercover cop a so-called “dirty nuke” bomb.
The bust went down in an undisclosed Pretoria gas station in a joint operation between Interpol and the South African investigative team known as the Hawks. The arrested men range in age from 35 to 50 and were from Malemodi and Vanderbijlpark.
While the Voice of America described the sale item as “an industrial nuclear device,” South Africa’s IOL reports it was Caesium-137 being sold, which can be combined with conventional explosives for use in a dirty nuke bomb.
Police do not know how the suspects got the Caesium-137, although the material is used for radioactive testing and some medical applications.
A Hawks spokesman told reporters the arrest was “not World Cup related” and downplayed the danger of the dirty nuke.
‘As a device, it’s harmless unless someone opens it and even then, you would have to sit on it for hours’ to be at risk, said spokesman Musa Zondi.
The suspects were asking US $6million for the radioactive materiel.
Officers are still looking for a much larger device the suspects are believed to have.
The suspects have been charged with theft, possession of a radioactive device and violating health regulations pertaining to nuclear material.
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"The suspects were asking US $6million"
But they would've taken 4 goats and a virgin.