Four arrested in Georgia after radioactive substance seized

Georgia says it has arrested four people and seized a radioactive substance which a pro-government television channel reported was believed to be caesium-137, reports Irish Times.

Caesium-137 has a wide range of industrial uses and is employed in radiotherapy, but it could also be combined with explosives to create a radiological bomb with the potential to spread radioactive contamination.

The seizure follows the arrest in Georgia in March of two Armenian men accused of smuggling 18g of highly enriched uranium from Armenia into Georgia.

A Georgian interior ministry spokesman said on Thursday a "radioactive seizure" had been made in a residential district of the capital, Tbilisi, and four people were in custody.