Brazilian drug gang opens fire on convoy of trucks carrying nuclear fuel

[EmperorScorpious]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/20/brazilian-drug-gang-opens-fire-on-convoy-of-trucks-carrying-nuclear-fuel

Armed police escorting the convoy exchanged fire with armed gang members as the trucks carrying uranium continued to a nearby nuclear plant. The attack is the latest of several violent incidents in the area where Brazil has two nuclear reactors and has raised concerns about its nuclear security in a state struggling with high levels of violent crime.

The attack happened in the same area and on the same highway where the British tourist Eloise Dixon was shot and wounded in 2017 after her family’s hire car accidentally drove into another gang-run community, Água Santa. Last year an armed gang blew up two cash machines in a condominium for nuclear workers just a kilometre from the two plants, which provide around 3% of Brazil’s power.

Brazil’s government-run nuclear agency Eletronuclear said in a statement the uranium was in a “natural state” and would not have harmed the population as it had the same level of radioactivity as when it is found in nature. Police took position on the edge of the highway when shots were heard at around noon as the convoy passed an area where a gunfight was taking place, Eletronuclear said. The company said the convoy had happened to pass an area where a gunfight was happening and was not attacked.