Customs Staff in Russia’s Vladivostok Find German Helicopter With High Radiation Levels

VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) - Customs officers in Russia’s major eastern port city of Vladivostok have seized a civilian helicopter from Germany that recorded 55 times the permissible levels of radiation, a spokeswoman for the city's customs service said on Tuesday.

“A civilian helicopter (Bo 105) with 55 times the permissible levels of radiation was discovered by customs officers at the Vladivostok sea checkpoint. The hazardous radioactive object had arrived from Germany in a container bound for a Russian company,” the spokeswoman, Asya Berezhnaya, told reporters.

According to Maksim Shesternin, the head of the regional customs control division for radioactive materials, a reading of more than five microsieverts per hour was observed when the helicopter was examined.

“The gearbox and the tail rotor gearbox cover were the sources of the radiation. All information has been passed to the sanitary control committee of Rospotrebnadzor’s [Russian sanitary watchdog] Primorsky Territory branch,” Shesternin said, adding that the shipment will be subject to return.

Since the beginning of 2020, customs officers in Vladivostok have identified 14 separate objects bound for Russia that have exceeded the permitted levels of radiation.