The National Police Intervened In Checking Radioactive Waste In Serpong Housing

Head of Public Relations DivHumas Polri Kombes Asep Adi Saputra (Rizky Adytia Pramana / VOI)

JAKARTA - The National Police have intervened directly to investigate exposure to radioactive waste found in an empty land in Batan Indah Housing, Serpong, South Tangerang. The police have also taken soil samples for further investigation.

Head of Public Relations DivHumas Polri Kombes Asep Adi Saputra said the investigation of radioactive substances would involve the Gegana team, which has capabilities in the chemical and radioactive fields. Later, the Forensic Laboratory Center (Puslabfor) will also help uncover these findings.

"There is the involvement of Gegana Detachment E which has KBR (Chemical, Biological, and Radioactive) qualifications," Asep said at the Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Monday, February 17.

Asep said the findings of radioactive waste originated from a functional test in the monitoring area by the Nuclear Energy Supervisory Agency (Bapeten). From the results of the crime scene (TKP), the indication of the vacant land was exposed to radioactive substances of the type Cs-137 or Cesium 137.

Not only that, the Directorate of Certain Crimes (Dittipitter) Bareskrim Polri will also investigate whether there are indications of deliberate intent behind the discovery of radioactive waste in vacant land located in Batan Indah Housing, Serpong.

However, he emphasized, all investigations in efforts to disclose have been carried out. So, for the time being, the priority that has been done is to keep the location of the findings sterile.

"The main thing is to carry out security at the TKP. Because of course there must be further functional tests there. Does this radioactive have an impact on the environment. So far it is still in the process of investigation," said Asep.

Empty land where radioactive substances were found (Debi Astari / VOI)

Not Involved in Terrorism Network

The discovery of radioactive substances in a vacant lot in a resident's housing reminded the National Police about the plan of a terrorist group from Bandung who planned to blow up the State Palace with a nuclear bomb around August 2017.

Quoting from Reuters, the suspected terrorists reportedly changed the radioactive compound type Thorium 232 (Th-232) to Uranium 233 (U-233). Then, they combined Uranium (U-233) with Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) which was homemade. Thus, it can create a very dangerous 'Nuclear Bomb'.

The TATP is a fairly effective device for the radiological deployment of a chemical bomb and can also spray radioactive material when a conventional bomb explodes.

However, based on a provisional investigation, there was no information or leads that led to the terrorism network. This is because the five radioactives are the findings of the Nuclear Energy Supervisory Agency (Bapetan) through their technology.

"While we did not conclude there. All are still in the process of investigation. I explained earlier that this was the finding of Bapeten when conducting functional tests in several places, monitoring areas and found radioactive type CS137," said Asep.

However, Asep said that the Police were still collecting existing data and information. So, we cannot speculate about the origin of the radioactive waste.

"The police are also investigating this and are still in the process. If we have obtained new facts and data, we can draw conclusions," said Asep.