Mexican authorities issued an alert for Reynosa, Tamaulipas, regarding a stolen piece of radioactive equipment. The border city is directly south of the Texas cities of McAllen, Hidalgo, Pharr, and Mission.

Mexico’s Civil Protection Agency (CNPC) issued the alert, claiming a piece of stolen equipment contained radioactive material that could be dangerous if handled without care. Authorities described the missing equipment as a density and humidity meter with a radioactive core; typically used in construction projects.

The equipment went missing on Wednesday afternoon when a worker parked his vehicle at a convenience store along the Reynosa-Matamoros Highway. Details of the theft remain unclear, however. The effects of handling the radioactive material without protection were not revealed in detail by authorities.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.