Gangs try to sell nuclear materials to Islamists

Authorities working with the FBI in eastern Europe have foiled four attempts in the past five years by gangs with suspected Russian connections to sell radioactive material to Middle Eastern extremists.

The latest known case came in February, when a smuggler offered a huge cache of deadly caesium, enough to contaminate several city streets, and specifically sought a buyer from the Islamic State (IS) group.

Criminal organisations, some with ties to the Russian KGB’s successor agency, are driving a thriving black market in nuclear materials in the tiny and impoverished country of Moldova, investigators say.