Stolen radioactive material used for making 'dirty bomb' found in Mexico

Radioactive material that had gone missing near Mexico City this week has been found by the Mexican police.

The stolen vehicle was carrying delicate cargo that included a radioactive element used for medical purposes that also can be used to make a so-called dirty bomb.

Mexican authorities said they found the stolen truck and at least some of the radioactive cobalt on Wednesday, CNN reports.

The officials are however not sure whether any of the cobalt is missing, Juan Eibenschutz Hartman, head of Mexico's National Commission for Nuclear Security and Safeguards, said.

The container containing cobalt was found about a kilometer away from the truck and had been opened, he said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency announced the theft on Wednesday.

According to the report, Mexican authorities told the IAEA that the truck, which was transporting cobalt-60 from a hospital in Tijuana to a radioactive waste storage center, was stolen Monday in Tepojaco, near Mexico City.

Preliminary information suggests that the thieves did not know what the truck's cargo was when they stole it, Jaime Aguirre Gomez, deputy director of radiological security at the National Commission for Nuclear Security and Safeguards, said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is assisting with the investigation into the stolen truck.