Sellers of radioactive metal from Chornobyl Exclusion Area sentenced to eight years in prison

Members of a criminal group that sold metal objects containing spent uranium from the Chornobyl Exclusion Area have been sentenced to various terms in prison.

According to the media liaisons department of the prosecutor's office in Kyiv, the capital's Holosiyivsky District Court sentenced eight members of the criminal group to terms of imprisonment between eight years and eight-and-a-half years depending on the role of each of the members of the group. The prosecutor's office supported the state prosecution in the case.

"It was discovered that the criminals sold metal objects containing spent uranium that were delivered from the exclusion zone around Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. They were arrested by the capital's police and employees of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv at the moment when they were selling the radioactive objects," reads the statement.

The criminal case was opened under Part 3 of Article 28 and Part 3 of Article 265 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal use of radioactive materials by an organized group).