SHAH ALAM: Authorities on Saturday seized several stolen radioactive materials from a scrap metal company and an apartment here.
The materials, which belong to a company which provides services to oil and gas corporations, are believed to have been stolen earlier this week.
Sources said police and nuclear experts from the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) carried out a joint-operation to locate the materials, believed to be Iridium 192, after the company lodged a report when they realised the items were missing from their inventory.
"The teams searching for the radioactive material detected one at a scrap metal dealer’s yard in Kampung Jawa, Klang and seized it," said a source.
It is learnt that authorities used a special detector brought in by the AELB to pinpoint the material’s whereabouts.
Sources said authorities then managed to identify the person who sold it to the dealer, which led them last night to an apartment in Section 36, where they arrested a man.
The raiding party also recovered another radioactive material, which was still kept in its container, in a store near the apartment.
Klang Selatan district police chief Assistant Commissioner Alzafny Ahmad confirmed the incident when contacted.
He said police arrested several people in connection with the theft, but declined to specify how many and their identities, as there might be more arrests to follow.
When asked to confirm the type of radioactive materials involved, Alzafny only said that the items were very hazardous if leakage were to occur.
However, he declined to reveal anything further, saying that the investigation is ongoing.
Alzafny added that he and officials from the AELB will hold a press conference on the case at the district police headquarters in Klang at 10am tomorrow.