Radioactive material which was on its way to Iran seized at Moscow airport

Radioactive material which was on its way to Iran seized at Moscow airport

Radioactive material was found in the luggage of a passenger bound for Iran - at Moscow's Sheremetvevo international airport.

Russia's Federal Customs Service made the discovery, recently but on an unspecified day, after the material triggered an alarm in the airport's radiation control system.

A search of the luggage revealed 18 pieces of radioactive metal packed in individual steel casings.

The service said that tests showed the material was a radioactive isotope which could be obtained only 'as a result of a nuclear reactor's operations'.

Radiation levels in the area were 20 times above normal. An airport customs spokesman said the material had been identified as sodium-22, which can be used in medical equipment, but gave no other details. Read More