Officials reject speculation NJ's mystery drones were used in search for missing radioactive item

New Jersey officials on Thursday rejected speculation that the mystery drones spotted over towns across the state were helping to find radioactive material that was missing from a shipping container earlier this month.

Mysterious drones have been spotted over New Jersey for the past month, and federal agencies have not been able to explain some of the reports. But federal officials have assured residents that the drones do not pose a threat to American safety.

The sightings have led Belleville Mayor Michael Melham to speculate that the drones are related to radioactive material that went missing in New Jersey on Dec. 2. But a spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection told CBS News that the material has since been found and drones were not used in its recovery.

Kalman Rosenfeld, a radiation site manager at Nazha Cancer Center where the missing equipment came from, said the missing pin source, which includes a low-level radioactive component often used to calibrate PET scanners, mistakenly arrived at a disposal facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. The item has since been repackaged and sent back to its manufacturer.

An official from the National Nuclear Security Administration, which works for the Department of Energy and handles the nuclear stockpile, also told the outlet that the administration is not engaged in any operations involving radiological or nuclear threats. 

The agency also does not use drones to detect radiological or nuclear substances.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.