Gopalganj Police arrested three smugglers with rare Californium stone, a radioactive substance, to the value of approximately Rs 850 crore in the international market, an official said on Friday.
Gopalganj SP Swarn Prabhat confirmed the seizure. He said that the accused were smuggling 50 grams of the substance.
“We received a specific tip-off about the smuggling of a valuable substance in the district. Accordingly, we constituted a team comprising members from various specialised units, including the District Investigation Unit (DIU), Special Operations Group-7 (SOG-7), and the Special Task Force (STF), which was assembled under the supervision of the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Kuchaykot police station and deployed at Bihar-Uttar Pradesh-Balthari border,” Prabhat said.
“The team apprehended the accused on Thursday evening. The suspects were travelling on a motorcycle and were found in possession of four mobile phones and 50 gram Californium,” Prabhat said.
The Gopalganj SP said that Californium is a highly expensive radioactive substance with each gram reportedly valued at around Rs 17 crore in the international market, making the total value of the 50 gram stone approximately 850 crore.
The accused in this case have been identified as Chhote Lal Prasad (40), a resident of Parsauni Buzurg village, located in the Tamkuhi Raj police station area of Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh; Chandan Gupta (40), a resident of Kaushalya Chowk, Ward No. 22, in the Nagar police station area in Gopalganj; and Chandan Ram, a resident of Kushahar Mathia in Gopalganj.
According to the SP, the smuggler had been attempting to sell the valuable substance for several months.
A special team from the Forensic Science Laboratory has been called in to handle the substance and to conduct further investigations. The accused were also carrying a test report of the substance. The report indicates that there is existing scientific evidence regarding the nature of the substance, which will likely be crucial in the ongoing investigation.
Given the critical nature of the substance, the authorities have informed the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to step in for a thorough investigation. This move underscores the gravity of the situation, as the DAE is the central authority responsible for overseeing nuclear materials in India.
