With the help of US FBI experts, the Moldovan police have seized 405 g of uranium and 1 kg of mercury that were to be sold in Chisinau. Ion Bodrug, head of the General Inspectorate of Police, told a press conference on Tuesday, December 9, that the radioactive substances had been brought from Russia by train. Seven people were arrested for investigation.

An undercover police officer bought 5 g sample of uranium and agreed with the seller that he would later buy 200 g. According to Ion Bodrug, this element can be used to manufacture so-called dirty bombs, with the extraction of plutonium, which leads to the radioactive contamination of the environment and of living organisms and can have lethal effects.

The suspects are aged between 32 and 75, some of them being specialists in the field of radioactive substances and having served in the military.

The uranium is valued at 1.6 million euros, while the value of the mercury is yet to be established. Besides the 7 arrested persons, the police suspect there other members of the group and are searching for them.