Radioactive material goes missing from truck in Malaysia prompting fears of militants building a dirty bomb

‘It cannot fall into the wrong hands as the consequences can be deadly,’ says country’s atomic board

A device cotaining iridium has gone missing in Malaysia (Getty)

Deadly radioactive material has gone missing in Malaysia, prompting fears it could be used by terrorists to build a dirty bomb.

The iridium was part of an industrial radiography device which disappeared while being carried on a pickup truck.

Two drivers were arrested but later released because of insufficient evidence, the New Straits Times reports.

It is unknown exactly how much iridium was in the device but the UN atomic agency has warned any loss or theft of radioactive material could put it in the hands of militants who might try to build a crude nuclear device.

Such a weapon would combine radioactive material with conventional explosives to contaminate a wide area.

“It cannot fall into the wrong hands as the consequences can be deadly,” a source at Malaysia’s Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) told the newspaper.

Only in June the country’s defence minister Mohamad Sabu told a TV interview he believed terrorism was the number one security risk facing Malaysia.

The 23kg instrument was lost somewhere between the country’s capital Kuala Lumpur and the town of Seremban, some 37 miles away, on 10 August.

It is reported to belong to a company offering inspection services to the oil and gas industry.

“Yes, there is a report and we are investigating,” Mazlan Mansor, police chief of the surrounding state of Selangor, informed Reuters in a brief text message. He declined to elaborate.

Two technicians are said to have put the device onto the back of a company truck and driven to Seremban – but when they arrived an hour later they reported it had simply gone missing.

The duo told investigators that the tailgate of their vehicle was already lowered when they reached their destination and said the equipment could have fallen out during the drive. They claim they retraced their journey in an attempt to recover the device but found nothing.

One fear is that, if the instrument did fall, it could have been picked up by someone with no knowledge of its contents, who may then dismantle it to sell as scrap metal, potentially causing mass exposure to radioactive materials.

“We appeal to those in possession of it to contact the police, do not open it,” the AELB said.