SAINT PETERSBURG, Apr 3, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) The illegal traffic of nuclear and other radioactive materials is developing into a global threat and requires a coordinated effort to stamp it out, international officials said Monday.

The head of Russian customs services Nikolai Kravchenko told a conference of Baltic and former Soviet states that more than 500 incidents of illegal transportation of nuclear and radioactive materials across Russian borders were recorded last year.

Of these, 80 percent involved materials in transit, while 20 percent involved exported material, he said, warning that the situation was likely to remain unchanged in 2001.

Kravchenko noted that China carried more radioactive cargoes into Russia than any other country.

A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), William Mikhan, meanwhile called for a consolidated effort by the world community to end the traffic, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

He told participants, including representatives of the European Commission, that the traffic was developing into a threat of global proportions. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse)