A Kazakh mining engineer and his three unemployed accomplices are facing charges for illegal possession and distribution of radioactive materials, the court spokesman told Interfax-Kazakhstan on Thursday. In 1991, the engineer of the automated control systems department at a Zhezhgan mining factory stole cesium-137 (Cs-137) and kept it hidden for 22 years in a sealed container in his office. In June last year, he handed the radioactive substance over to his three acquaintances in hope to find a buyer. On June 19, 2013, a security agency officer working undercover apprehended the traffickers, who were offering a container with Cs-137 at $250,000 in Karaganda.
The ghosts of Cold War