Zafer Goder
06 July 2019•Update: 06 July 2019
BOLU, Turkey
Police in Turkey’s Black Sea region have seized $72 million worth of radioactive californium, an element used in nuclear weapons and reactors, authorities said Saturday.
Some 18.1 grams (0.63 ounces) of radioactive californium was seized in a car by anti-smuggling and organized crime police, the province's governorship said in a statement.
According to the statement, the seized substance was sent to Turkey’s Turkish Atomic Energy Authority.
Five suspects are being investigated over the incident, it added.
Californium is a radioactive chemical element first synthesized at California University in 1950. It is considered highly dangerous.
*Writing by Burak Bir
