SEVASTOPOL. May 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Officers of the Ukrainian Security Service and the Alfa special-task unit have confiscated two containers filled with cesium-137 from residents of the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Yuriy Kondratyev, spokesman for the Security Service's branch for Sevastopol, told Interfax that "the illegal business run by three residents of this city and others from other Ukrainian regions to purchase and sell radioactive substances and rare-earth metals was discovered by Security Service officers six months ago."
An investigation revealed how radioactive substances were purchased and established the role each member of this criminal group played and how they interacted.
The containers, worth USD60,000 each, were confiscated following a report about plans to sell them to customers from Kyiv. A Simferopol resident was also involved in the sale.
The people involved in the cesium deal were detained while handing over the containers.
The detainees have been charged with involvement in illegal operations with radioactive materials as members of an organized criminal group.
Kondratyev said an inquiry will have to establish how the cesium- 137 sold might have been used.