KOCHI: After it was found that a police team had failed to follow certain safety measures while seizing a consignment of what is claimed to be enriched uranium earlier this year, the police department has come out with a directive briefing its personnel on the procedures that need to be followed while dealing with radioactive materials like uranium.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera issued the directive on April 14, which has warned police to be alert while handling such cases.
It was in January that the team received a tip-off that a Tamil Nadu-based gang had sold a consignment containing radioactive material to a youngster in the state with the claim that it will fetch crores of rupees in the international market.
According to a police official, autorickshaw driver Prasanthmon T (30), of Valliyakulam was smart enough to recognise the gravity of the situation after he did a Google search and found out that uranium was a radioactive material used in atomic reactors.
"I overhead a conversation between my friends about a consignment. I wasn’t sure if it was uranium or iridium. So I did a Google search and found that the said material was highly radioactive and harmful to living beings. I immediately alerted the police," Prasanthmon told The New Indian Express.
He said he decided to inform the police to save his friend from getting trapped in a serious crime racket if the material was actually uranium.