Robbers steal truck with radioactive material that can generate a bomb

Several films over the years have shown bad guys stealing unexpected materials to create bombs of different kinds and threaten huge numbers of people. The curious (and sad) is that something like this may have happened on Wednesday (4), and the story takes place in Mexico.

According to reports from different international sources, a truck that had taken radioactive material from a Mexican hospital was stolen. The initial intention was to dump the components inside the vehicle into an appropriate dump, but the bad guys acted before this could happen.

For now, the Mexican authorities have no suspects - or at least not released them to the press - and they also don't know if the radioactive material was stolen on purpose. Among the substances that have been caught is cobalt-60, which has different applications within medicine.

A situation that can be delicate ...

It turns out that this component is highly radioactive and if handled without the necessary protections, it is possible that many people will become contaminated. In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has stated that anything that has been stolen is extremely dangerous and can be used to create a bomb.

The agency itself also stated that the explosion would not be similar to that of a genuine atomic bomb. However, bandits can create what they call a "dirt bomb, " which is nothing more than an explosive device that can disperse radioactive material in several areas at once - and yes, that's very bad.

However, it is not yet known what the thieves will do with the stolen material, so we can only hope that nothing bad happens.

Via Tecmundo