[Nov3]

First it would crap up a substantial area. No container is going to hold the force of several pounds of high explosives. Second atomic bombs are not hydrogen bombs. hydrogen bombs need much more maintenance than a simple nuke.

Now that being said - if they had one it would have gone off by now. They would not risk losing it unused.

[Little Pig]

See post 42 for why even fission weapons are not really a feasible man-portable weapon for anyone other than a true Nuclear Power.

[Little Pig]

You may be right about the power of any conventional explosives in the 'case, and even if it was a dud, it would amount to a dirty bomb, but that's assuming everything else inside the bomb was functioning, and as post 42 points out, the electronics are just as vulnerable to deterioration. A suitcase nuke can't live long without regular returns to a lab.