Mexico on High Alert Again After Another Truck Loaded with Radioactive Material Stolen

The Mexican government has placed six states on high alert following the theft of a vehicle with radioactive material. That alert comes less than a year after Mexico had an almost identical case where authorities throughout most of southern Mexico spent days searching for the missing material.

The warning was issued on Sunday evening by Mexico’s Secretariat of the Interior, just one day after the theft of a commercial pickup that had been transporting industrial material, including a yellow container with a rod of Iridium-192.

The theft of the pickup took place on in the town of San Juan del Rio, Queretaro in the central part of Mexico. In response the Mexican government placed six central and southern states on heightened alert and deployed federal police forces to search for the stolen radioactive material.

As previously reported by Breitbart Texas, in April 2015, thieves stole another vehicle in  central Mexico which had also been carrying a container with Iridium-192. In response to that theft, the Mexican government also kicked off a massive search for the equipment. That equipment  turned up days later when the thieves left the container near a highway overpass.

The theft of trucks containing radioactive material happens more often that the Mexican government would like to admit. In February 2015 authorities recovered three pickup trucks containing industrial materials and radioactive material.

In July 2014, a group of thieves stole another truck containing Iridium 192 which had been parked out of a home as the driver slept.

In a 2013 incident, a group of thieves who stole a truck loaded with Cobalt-60 had to receive medical attention after being exposed to the materials.

According to the warning by the Mexican government Iridium-192 can be dangerous to human health if removed from the special  container it was transported in.