Chinese Man Accidentally Finds Book on 'Military Secrets'

A Chinese retiree known as 'Uncle Zhang', who collects military-themed newspapers and magazines, accidentally acquired four volumes of secret military documents for just 85 cents. This information was reported on the Weixin social network by the Ministry of State Security of China.

The purchase occurred when the retiree was strolling near his home and noticed two bags made of snake leather filled with books near a paper recycling center. The man paid attention to the fact that the books were completely new and related to military issues, after which he bought four of them for six yuan.

Upon returning home, he began reading, but the more he read, the more his anxiety grew, the ministry notes. The retiree suspected that he had purchased 'military secrets' and established contact with the local office of the Ministry of State Security.

During the investigation, it was revealed that the documents had been sent to the recycling point by conscripted soldiers from a secret division. They were instructed to destroy over 200 classified documents but instead sold them for about 0.8 yuan per kilogram. The total weight of the batch exceeded 30 kilograms, and the agents made over 20 yuan (approximately 12 dollars). They have been held accountable, and the ministry has begun reviewing procedures to prevent a recurrence of the situation.

The Ministry of State Security has been regularly calling on the public in recent months to assist in the fight against foreign espionage. Last April, Chinese authorities made radical changes to the anti-espionage law, expanding the definition of espionage and prohibiting the transfer of any information pertaining to national security and interests. This was the first update to the law since 2014.