Polish police investigate potentially radioactive substances found in residential building

Polish police investigate potentially radioactive substances found in residential building

Polish authorities are investigating potentially radioactive substances found in around 50 containers in a residential building in western Poland, officials said on Friday, adding there was no need for an evacuation of the surrounding area.

Firefighters from the chemical threat unit were called by the police on Friday morning to investigate the substances found in the village of Siedlec, around 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the border with Germany.

"Investigations are still ongoing, but this intervention is carried out on private property, in a residential building... that has a garage and we have information about 50 different sources of substances that may be radioactive," firefighters' spokesperson Martin Halasz told Reuters.

"We are probably talking about radium which has been identified here. It's still being determined whether it's just radium or some other substances."

Local police spokesperson Wojciech Adamczyk said the substances were stored in a house in small glass and plastic bottles and jars. They showed signs of radioactivity "but at such concentration that does not pose a threat to human life or health".

"We need to determine what these substances are and whether one can legally possess them," he said, adding it was too early to say if someone would be arrested.