BERLIN, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- German investigators say the radioactive polonium-210 used to kill a former Russian spy in London last month would have cost $25 million on the black market.
The Berliner Zeitung quoted a police source Wednesday as saying police were investigating the possibility some of Alexander Litvinenko's business activities involved the illegal smuggling of nuclear materials.
"We know that there has been a demand for nuclear materials in terrorist circles for several years," the source said.
Litvinenko was a former Russian spy who defected to Britain and became an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He died of radiation poisoning in London on Nov. 23, and one of his business acquaintances, Dmitri Kovtun is now in a Moscow hospital with radiation sickness, the Novosti news agency said.
German police became involved along with British and Russian investigators after it was learned Kovtun had traveled to Hamburg before meeting Litvinenko in London, and traces of radioactivity were found in the car he drove and where he stayed.
