CARACAS - Venezuelan police have recovered stolen equipment containing radioactive material used in the oil industry, but there appeared to be no contamination, an official said.
Authorities found the device, containing cesium-137 used in oil prospecting, in eastern Anzoategui State in the same area where it was stolen last month, Civil Protection service chief Antonio Rivero told state news agency ABN.
No arrests were made and experts from the Energy Ministry's nuclear affairs department were dispatched to collect the unit, although there appeared to be no contamination, Rivero said.
Authorities arrested three police officers in December after they were linked to the robbery of a truck carrying a device containing radioactive material iridium-192, which is used to check oil pipelines.
Two other capsules with iridium-192 went missing in March through negligence in two separate incidents. Both of those capsules have since been found, one dumped in Lake Maracaibo in the west of the country.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
