Mexico hospitalizes six suspected of stealing radioactive material

By Miguel Gutierrez MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Six men suspected of stealing a dangerous radioactive cargo from a truck outside Mexico City earlier this week have been treated in a hospital for signs of radiation exposure and remain under police guard, officials said on Friday. On Monday, thieves hijacked the truck that had been carrying cobalt-60, a radioactive substance used for medical and industrial applications that can also be used as an ingredient in a "dirty bomb." Police located the truck on Wednesday but found that the robbers had removed the radioactive material from a protective case, exposing themselves to dangerous levels of radiation, before dumping it less than a mile away. Pedro Noble, the health secretary of the state of Hidalgo, told local television the men showed signs of "critical, close contact" with radioactive material. The truck, which was taking the material from a hospital in the northern city of Tijuana to a radioactive waste-storage center, was seized when its driver stopped at a gas station in the town of Temascalapa, 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Mexico City.