Iridium-192…Manmade…Half-Life 73.83 days….Can penetrate through 32 mm of steel in 40 minutes..contact with the radioactive element can cause burns, radiation sickness and permanent injuries in just minutes. Used for industrial purposes and medicine, as a source of radiation to kill cancer cells. It is also one of the most commonly stolen isotopes to potentially be used in a dirty bomb. A radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. In Cardenas, Mexico a small container carrying Iridium-192 was stolen from a truck. The stolen batch of iridium was intended for industrial radiography to check welding seams. Christian Romero, the commission's deputy director for radiological emergencies said,“"As long as it remains inside the container, there is no risk at all to anybody," Police and troops were put on alert in the states of Tabasco, Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca and Veracruz. For at least the third time in the past year and a half, Mexican authorities were chasing stolen radioactive material. In December 2013, thieves stole a vehicle carrying a cancer-treating medical device with highly radioactive cobalt-60 near Mexico City. The latest wave of thievery of potential dirty bomb material arrives on the heels of recent dirty bomb drills in the united states. - Watch now