‘MISSING RDD NOT LINKED TO TERRORISTS’
Cops working with AELB to locate radioactive device
THERE is no indication that the disappearance of a Radioactive Dispersal Device (RDD) on Aug 10 had anything to do with terror activities.
However, Selangor police chief Datuk Mazlan Mansor said the matter was under investigation.
He said investigators had yet to establish how the device went missing.
The case, he said, was classified under Section 379 of the Penal Code for theft.
Mazlan said police were working with the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) to locate the RDD.
“We were made to understand that the device contains Iridium192 and could pose a health risk to anyone exposed to it for a certain period of time.
“Among the symptoms (of radiation poisoning) are dizziness, vomiting and nausea if exposed to less than 500 millisieverts (mSv).
“Any exposure to a dose higher than 500mSv and a person will suffer deterministic effects, such as burns to the skin,” he said.
(Millisievert is a radioprotection unit measuring the radiation dose received either from a radioactive source or from other sources like X-rays in medicine.)
Mazlan urged those with information about the missing RDD to contact investigating officer Assistant Superintendent Yong Meng Heng at 019-5753399 or the nearest police station.
The New Straits Times had reported that police and AELB have been searching for the 23kg RDD since it went missing.
The device, an industrial radiography equipment, contains the radioactive isotope Iridium-192, which emits beta and gamma radiation as it decays during its estimated half life of 73 days.
Police and AELB were concerned that it might fall into the hands of terrorists or militants, or those who treat it as metal to be dismantled and sold for a quick buck.
The device, with a market value of RM75,000, belonged to a company offering test, calibration and inspection services to the oil and gas industry, as well as power plants, manufacturing, automotive and transportation sectors.
Sources said two technicians of the company had loaded the device into the back of the company’s pick-up truck for a task in Seremban.
They left Seremban for their office in Shah Alam at 2am. When they arrived an hour later, they discovered that the device was missing from the truck.