Abstract:

The department of Public Relations of the Far East Customs Administration told media that in the first nine months of 2009, customs officials in the Far East discovered 1,798 goods and/or vehicles with abnormal levels of radiation. For the same period in 2008, officials counted 1,658 such incidents. 84 incidents of illegal smuggling of radioactive goods and/or vehicles across the Russian border have occurred so far in 2009, with 74 such incidents reported for the same period in 2008.

On 10 February 2009, customs officials at a two-way border checkpoint in Ussuri detained a 39 year-old male Chinese citizen when the Yantar-1P radiation detection system detected elevated radiation levels. The registered dose of gamma radiation was 240 times higher than normal background radiation levels. He had intended to visit Russia, but had to return home.

On 4 July 2009, customs officials in Kamchatka at the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk Sea Port discovered a radioactive object during loading of scrap metal onto a ship Tikhon Semushkin. Detection of the radiation occurred during the passage of the metal through one of the cargo holds of the ship. [1] The object was part of an aviation ice detector containing radioisotopes. The gamma radiation levels were 4,900 times greater than normal background radiation levels. A specialized organization handled the disposal of the object. 

In 2009, the Far East Customs Administration continued to equip customs checkpoints with various modifications of radiation detection systems, including the Yantar system. Reports indicate that in the first nine months of 2009, ten Yantar systems were installed at two checkpoints, and 17 more are planned for installation at three other checkpoints before the end of the year. {Entered PH}

[1] "Na Dalnem Vostoke ezhemesyachno cherez granitsu pytalis provozit 10 predmetov s povyshennym urovnem ioniziruyushchikh izlucheniy" ["10 Radioactive Smuggling Incidents across the Far Eastern Border Every Month"], Vostok Media, 31 July 2009, http://www.vostokmedia.com/n51914.html.

Abstract Number:  20090250
Headline:  Customs Officials in the Far East Identify 84 Cases of Smuggling of Radioactive Objects in the First 9 Months of the Year
Date:  26 October 2009
Bibliography:  "Dalnevostochnye tamozhenniki vyyavili 84 sluchaya nezakonnovo peremeshcheniya radiatsionno-opasnykh obektov," RIA Prima Media (Vladivostok), 26 October 2009.