But they said the seven-kilogram consignment of uranium and strontium seized could only have been in transit through Ukraine and must have originated in another country.
Petro Medvid, a spokesman for Ukraine's border guards, said none of the seven people detained in connection with the radioactive material appeared in records of travelers crossing into the former Soviet republic of Moldova.
Romanian officials said the material entered Romania through Ukraine and Moldova.
"There is no system of 'nuclear gates' on the Moldovan border as there is on the Western border," Medvid said. "There we have counters in use to detect radioactive material."
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