Human Ears and Fingers Sent via Mail

OP-ED: 

I don't think I'd like to be living in Kyrgyzstan these days.  Perhaps in the pristine early years, but not today as this grisly article shows:

I've been hunting this story down all morning.  Even though it was first reported a couple of days ago, nothing other than the same syndicated article seems to appear anywhere on any date (that I can find!) on the internet.

Why not?  What happened to an investigation?

Has the story been squashed by the very same people that threatened these officials?

Are these officials now afraid for their lives and deciding to "tow the line," with whoever the senders were?

Mr. Tekebayev went on to say:

There must be more to this story.

Kyrgyzstan is a truly beautiful and ancient mountainous country west of China, with proud nomadic and agricultural traditions.  Dating all the way back to 201 B.C., this small land-locked country borders China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Knowing this and juxtapositioning it with the Krygyzstan of today, is jarring as one sees the country experience it's worst era of corruption and strife in it's long history.

The capital of the country is Bishkek (formerly Frunze)  and believe it or not - a bishkek, is a churn used to make fermented mare's milk.

With a little further research, I discovered that while it certainly doesn't have the drug problems that the U.S., has, it still cultivates cannabis and opium poppy for CIS markets.  It also happens to be the transit point for SW Asian narcotics bound for the rest of Europe - and Russia.

Kyrgyzstanis are also a major consumer of opiates.

One  has to wonder if the illicit drug growers/producers are behind the threats to the government officials.  While I have no proof, it seems a safe bet to me and if it were me receiving those body parts, I'd probably back off too.

But that's not good enough for those who have accepted those offices.

So what's up?

What happened to the body parts?

Have any investigations turned up the name of the people to whom the body parts belonged? 

Is there an ongoing investigation at all? 

Another possible link that I've found was located at Eurasia.net.org where information reveals

Again, I can find no follow-up articles, so I still have my own questions:

Why was Kyrgyzstan shipping radioactive material to Iran for G-d's sake?

Exactly how much radioactive material was there?

Who was the sender?

Why did officials take nine days to report the discovery? 

And last but most definitely not least: How the hell did the train manage to cross three border checkpoints before any detection of the horrid stuff? 

The plot thickens!

It might be interesting to note here that the two major religions in Kyrgyzstan are: Muslim 75%, Russian Orthodox 20% with the rest taken up with various other religions.

If any of our other reporters live in the area or in neighboring countries - that is Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan - Tajikistan and China - perhaps they're able to find out more information, than what I'm finding in Western and Asian newspapers. 

Sources:

The Australian
Severed ears, fingers sent to government by correspondents in Bishkek (unnamed.)

Morning Star
Krygyz Prosecutors: Severed Ears, Fingers Sent to Officials
via Dow Jones Newswires
Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Eurasianet.org

CIA - The World Factbook

U.S. Dept., of State

Image Sources:

Yahoo Travel

© Anthony Plummer
Lonely Planet Images

© Hugh Watts
Lonely Planet Images

© Martin Moos
Lonely Planet Images

CIA World Factbook

Copyright © Central Intelligence Agency

U.S. Department of State 

Public Domain