Italian police announced that they have seized 30 tonnes of Chinese made steel that had been contaminated by a radioactive substance. Officers seized it last week after radiation turned up in tests on metal scraps at companies across Italy that had used part of the shipment.

Police said in a statement that the shipment had come from China's TISCO company and had arrived in the northern port town of La Spezia in May last year.

Police said that the steel had been accidentally mixed during production with cobalt-60.

The environmental protection police squad said that the steel was destined for the industrial production of chimneys and pulleys, and long term exposure could have been dangerous for workers handling it.