Radioactive, unprotected: A `dirty bomb' nightmare

Soviet-era nuclear material is a target for smugglers willing to sell to anyone

By Alex Rodriguez
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published February 15, 2007

YEREVAN, Armenia -- Jobless for two years, Gagik Tovmasyan believed escape from poverty lay in a cardboard box on his kitchen floor.

Inside the box, a blue, lead-lined vessel held the right type and amount of radioactive cesium to make a "dirty bomb." The material was given to him by an unemployed Armenian Catholic priest who promised a cut if Tovmasyan could find a buyer.