Romania is the only country in Europe to have such a unit incorporated into its Police structure. The full name of the unit is Serviciul de Combatere a Traficului cu Materiale Strategice si Terorism NBC, or the NBC Terrorism and Strategic Materials Trafficking Service. Throughout this article, the designation "NBC unit" will be used to shorten the term.

The NBC unit belongs to Directia Generala de Combatere a Crimei Organizate si Antidrog, or the General Directorate for Organized Crime and Narcotics, DGCCOA for short.


The unit incorporates highly trained fighters to ensure protection for missions like escorting a nuclear waste cargo, guarding a nuclear materials deposit or guarding a site infested with unknown substances.

US Equivalent: NEST

The Nuclear Unit is under the command of Serviciul pentru Substante Speciale (the Special Substances Service), which in its own turn, is under the direct command of DGCCOA.

DGCCOA handles the fight against narcotics, organized crime, money-laundring, human trafficking, dangerous substances and of course, nuclear waste trafficking.

The Nuclear Unit is called when mercury smugglers are caught, or when unknown radioactive or liquid substances are found in private homes or public places.

The high professionalism of the Nuclear Unit is ensured by men such as its former director, comissioner Adrian Baciu, who has since been promoted. Recently, the members of the Nuclear Unit have been called many times to investigate dubious mail packages, which most of the times turned out to be sugar disguised as "atnhrax". A stupid joke from "friend to friend", which will cost the expeditor about 15 years in prison.