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MOSCOW, June 23 — . The Khoroshevsky District Court of Moscow arrested four defendants in the case of smuggling and illegal export of the radioactive substance cesium-137 worth 3.5 million dollars, the press service of the court reported.
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«The court chose a measure of restraint in the form of detention until August 21 in respect of Sakhalov, Abdulaev, Shamilov and Takhmazov, suspected under article 226.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia («" Smuggling of radioactive substances")", — said the interlocutor of the agency.
The investigator's petition for the arrest of the fifth suspect or the election of a milder measure of restraint has not yet been received, the court clarified. . According to the intelligence service, the gang acted under the coordination of a citizen of Ukraine. The substance was planned to be used to create staged scenes of the use of weapons of mass destruction in order to discredit Russia, the department specified.
The radioisotope cesium-137 is used in gamma-ray flaw detection, inspection complexes, measuring equipment, as well as for radiation sterilization of food products, medical preparations and drugs, in radiotherapy — for the treatment of malignant tumors.
At the same time, it is one of the main dose-forming radionuclides, fission products of uranium and plutonium. It poses a great danger when it enters the human body. According to experts, caesium-137 could be used as a «dirty bomb» filling.
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