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Part of Radioactive Cargo Stolen in Mexico Is Recovered Truck With Radioactive Load Is Recovered in Mexico
(1 day later)
MEXICO CITY — A truck stolen near Mexico City with a load of a dangerous radioactive isotope used for medical purposes was found on Wednesday by the police after a two-day search, but some of the cargo was missing, a senior nuclear-safety official said. MEXICO CITY — The theft of a truck carrying radioactive material, the kind used in hospitals but also potentially as a dirty bomb, unnerved Mexico and set off a two-day hunt before both the vehicle and its potentially lethal contents were found Wednesday at nightfall.
The official, Mardonio Jimenez of Mexico’s nuclear safety commission, said a box containing some of the isotope, cobalt 60, was recovered with the vehicle, but that the whereabouts of the remainder was unclear. Cobalt 60 can be extremely dangerous when exposed to humans, and the theft has raised concerns of a more sinister motive, like the manufacture of a dirty bomb. The truck had been transporting the material, cobalt 60, from an obsolete radiotherapy machine at a public hospital in Tijuana to a storage repository in central Mexico. It was in a sealed container on the bed of the truck when armed men hijacked it at a gas station on Monday.
“The people who took that material are going to have to stop in the hospital and we will be waiting for them,” Mr. Jimenez said in a televised interview. It was unclear if the thieves were after the truck, a 2007 Volkswagen Worker, or the cobalt, which is extremely dangerous and can kill a person exposed to it directly in a matter of minutes. The theft prompted the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear monitor of the United Nations, to issue an alert expressing concern about its whereabouts.
Earlier Wednesday the theft was publicized by the Internatioal Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear monitor, reflecting the concern about the dangers of exposure to cobalt 60. Mardonio Jiménez, a top-ranking official with Mexico’s nuclear safety commission, said the thieves had opened the box holding the sealed container and appeared to have carried it several hundred meters from the truck and opened it.
The truck carrying the isotope had been stolen in the town of Tepojaco, near Mexico City, on Monday. The truck had been transporting the isotope from a hospital in the northern city of Tijuana to a radioactive waste storage center, the agency said. He said the motive was unclear, but whoever handled the material, which was recovered, would likely end up in a hospital, “and we will be waiting for them.” A wide area of Hueypoxtla, a small town 40 miles north of Mexico City where the truck was found, has been cordoned off but Mr. Jiménez said there was no immediate public health threat.
At the time of the theft, the agency said, the cobalt 60 had been properly shielded from exposure. However, it said, “the source could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding or if it was damaged.” The episode raised concerns about securing discarded nuclear material. It was unclear what if any security precautions had been taken in transporting the material, but truck hijackings are common in Mexico — both of vehicles and cargo — and terrorists are known to be interested in cobalt 60.
The statement did not elaborate on whether the thieves knew what they were stealing. But cobalt 60 is one of the ingredients commonly cited as a possible component of a dirty bomb, a combination of explosives and radioactive material. An American military official said that while the Pentagon was monitoring the Mexico situation closely, the theft did not appear to be connected to terrorist activity.
Counterterrorism officials, long concerned about dirty bombs, have said they are far more useful in spreading panic than in actually causing casualties or significant health concerns. Some experts say the bomb part might not be necessary — simply scattering a radioactive isotope in a densely populated area would have the same effect, but the person delivering the isotope would probably receive a large dose. Still, the material is one of the ingredients commonly cited as a possible component of a dirty bomb, a combination of explosives and radioactive material.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States went on a campaign to ensure that cobalt 60 and other isotopes commonly used in medicine and industry were better protected against theft, so that they were less likely to be obtained for dirty-bomb use. Counterterrorism officials have said such weapons are far more useful in spreading panic than harming people. Just scattering a radioactive isotope in a densely populated area would have the same effect, but the person delivering the isotope would probably receive a large dose.
A United States military official said that while the Pentagon was monitoring the Mexico situation closely, the theft did not appear to be connected to any terrorist activity. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the United States went on a campaign to ensure that cobalt 60 and other isotopes commonly used in medicine and industry were better protected against theft.
“I would say we are concerned but not worried,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “No indication at all this was terror related – just simple vehicle theft. It was used medical-grade material on its way to a disposal site, so would have already decayed to the point that it would not be useful for a weapon even if it did fall into terrorist hands.”
The official said the Pentagon was prepared to assist, if asked, but anticipated that if the United States offered any aid, it would most likely come from the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.
In an online guide to radiation protection, the E.P.A. identifies cobalt 60 as a substance used in a range of industrial and medical applications, including radiotherapy in hospitals. Large amounts of cobalt 60 are also used to sterilize spices and some foods because its powerful gamma rays kill bacteria and other pathogens without damaging the products or leaving them radioactive.In an online guide to radiation protection, the E.P.A. identifies cobalt 60 as a substance used in a range of industrial and medical applications, including radiotherapy in hospitals. Large amounts of cobalt 60 are also used to sterilize spices and some foods because its powerful gamma rays kill bacteria and other pathogens without damaging the products or leaving them radioactive.
The E.P.A. guide also warns that cobalt 60 is known to cause cancer. “Because it emits such strong gamma rays, external exposure to cobalt 60 is also considered a significant threat,” it says. The E.P.A. guide also warns that cobalt 60 is known to cause cancer.
Industrial and medical users periodically replace used cobalt 60 with fresh supplies because, as with all radioactive isotopes, its emissions slowly weaken over time; its half-life is 5.27 years.Industrial and medical users periodically replace used cobalt 60 with fresh supplies because, as with all radioactive isotopes, its emissions slowly weaken over time; its half-life is 5.27 years.
Mexican news reports said the truck had departed Tijuana on Nov. 28 en route to a repository 30 miles northeast of Mexico City. When it stopped at a gas station, two armed men ordered the driver out of the truck, tied him up and made off with the truck. The authorities in Mexico said the truck departed Tijuana on Nov. 28 en route to a repository 30 miles northeast of Mexico City. When it stopped at a gas station, two armed men ordered the driver out of the truck, tied him up and made off with the truck.
Bandits and organized crime groups prey on trucks along Mexican roadways, and many trucks carry warnings that they are tracked by satellite, though it was unclear if that was the case with this stolen truck. It also was not the first time a dangerous cargo like cobalt 60 had been seized by outlaws in Mexico. Many trucks in Mexico carry warnings that they are tracked by satellite, though it was unclear if that was the case with this stolen truck. Experts also say thieves have become adept at disabling the systems.
On the country’s Excelsior television network on Wednesday, Mardonio Jimenez Rojas, an operations supervisor at the Nuclear Security Commission, said that in past thefts the target was the truck, not the cargo. In the 1980s, he said, after a theft in Ciudad Juárez near the United States border, the cobalt 60 was found to have been used in reinforcing rods for construction, causing a health scare. It was not the first time a dangerous cargo like cobalt 60 had been seized by outlaws in Mexico or raised public health alarms. In the 1980s, discarded cobalt 60 in Ciudad Juárez near the United States border was found to have been used in making reinforcing rods for construction, causing an international health scare.
Mexico also is not the first country where radioactive isotopes have gone astray. In 1987, scavengers found another isotope often used in medicine and industry, cesium 137, from an abandoned radiation treatment machine in the central Brazil city of Goiania. At least four people died and 24 were hospitalized; several hundred people were found with traces of contamination.

Randal C. Archibold reported from Mexico City, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Matthew L. Wald and Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, and Patrick J. Lyons from New York.

The Nuclear Threat Initiative, an anti-proliferation group, keeps a list of incidents involving theft, smuggling or unauthorized transport of radioactive materials, counting 15 incidents in 2012. It also noted the theft of cesium 137 in Estonia twice in the mid-1990s.

Randal C. Archibold reported from Mexico City and Rick Gladstone from New York. Matthew L. Wald and Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, and Patrick J. Lyons from New York.