Article

2004-02-20

Khan sold Iran $3mln worth of nuclear parts

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Posted by Steve 2004-02-20 8:32:19 AM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Additional from Times of India:
Libya received enriched uranium from Pakistan in 2001 for use in nuclear programmes, police said on Friday, citing the alleged chief financier of an international trafficking network.
Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, a key operative in the alleged black market nuclear network run by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan , said Khan told him that "a certain amount" of enriched uranium was flown to Libya from Pakistan on a Pakistani airliner, Malaysian police said in a report released. Tahir is in Malaysia and has been questioned by local authorities in connection to his activities on Khan's behalf in this Southeast Asian country. The police released their report into the investigation on Friday.
Tahir told investigators that Khan also said a "certain number" of centrifuges - sophisticated machines that can be used to enrich uranium for weapons and other purposes - were flown to Libya direct from Pakistan in 2001-02. In addition, Libya set up a workshop inside the country to produce centrifuge components that could not be supplied from outside the country, the report says. Machines for the workshop, identified as 'Project Machine Shop 1001,' were obtained by Peter Griffin, a Briton who once owned Dubai-based company Gulf Technical Industries, who also prepared plans for the machine shop, the report said. Tahir told investigators that Libya contacted Khan in 1997 for help in building centrifuges.

Posted by Steve 2004-2-20 9:39:16 AM|| 2004-2-20 9:39:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 More from BBC:
Malaysian police have been questioning Mr Tahir, a Sri Lankan who is based in Dubai, over his role in Dr Khan's network. They released a report into their investigation on Friday.
In it, Mr Tahir is reported to have said a "certain amount" of uranium was flown to Libya in a Pakistani jet. He said he was told of this by Dr Khan around 2001. A nuclear expert told the BBC that the amount of uranium involved - assuming the transfer did take place - would be crucial in determining its use. He also said it was not clear whether the UF6 uranium in question had been enriched, a key stage if it was intended for weapons use.
The police report said that from what Mr Tahir "could recall", Libya contacted Dr Khan in 1997 "to obtain help and expertise in the field of uranium-enrichment centrifuge". He also says an "unnamed Iranian" paid $3m for two containers of centrifuge units to be sent from Pakistan to Iran. Mr Tahir said he was asked to arrange this in the year that his involvement with Dr Khan started - 1994/5.
"The cash was brought in two briefcases and kept in an apartment that was used as a guesthouse by the Pakistani nuclear arms expert each time he visited Dubai," Mr Tahir reportedly said. Malaysian police have said Mr Tahir obtained the components from Scope, part of a publicly listed company controlled by the Malaysian Prime Minister's son, Kamaluddin Abdullah. The police report clears Scope of culpability in the case, saying that the company's management had no idea what the components would be used for.
The report's other findings include:
Several meetings took place between Mr Khan and representatives from Libya regarding Libya's aspirations to get hold of enriched uranium. These took place between 1997 and 2002 in Instanbul, Casablanca and Dubai.
Most of the components were supplied by a series of European middlemen, some of whom are believed to have been aware of the components' potential use.
There was also a project to set up a workshop within Libya to make centrifuge components which could not be obtained outside the country.
Mr Tahir said the middleman in this project was Peter Griffin, a British citizen who was based in Dubai and has now retired to France, the report said.

Posted by Steve 2004-2-20 9:59:24 AM|| 2004-2-20 9:59:24 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 More from Channel News Asia, with names:
The latest revelations in the scandal were made in a 12-page police report on investigations into an alleged Malaysian link to the nuclear weapons black market and the role of Tahir, a Sri Lankan businessman married to a Malaysian. Tahir, 44, named by Bush as Khan's "chief financial officer and money launderer", appears to have spoken in great detail about the shadowy network.
According to the report, Tahir and Khan met Libyan representatives named as Mohamad Matuq Mohamad and Karim in Istanbul in 1997 when the Libyans asked for centrifuge units. Between 1998 and 2002 several more meetings were held, one in Casablanca and others in Dubai.
The enriched uranium was sent from Pakistan to Libya by air around 2001, and "a certain number of centrifuge units were sent in 2001-2002".
The report says Khan developed a "network of middlemen" that involved not only Tahir, but "several people and companies from Europe seeking to make profits by selling certain materials and equipment." It recommends that the IAEA should launch investigations into "several individuals from Europe allegedly involved in the proliferation of nuclear weapons".
Tahir named a Swiss citizen, Urs Friedrich Tinner as being "actively involved in the manufacturing operations" of the Malaysian factory which was the subject of the police probe. The report clears SCOPE of breaking any laws, saying the company was unaware that the components were part of a centrifuge unit for Libya as Tahir and Tinner did not declare "the true nature of the business".
Tinner was always careful to take back his drawings once a component was finished, saying he was safeguarding trade secrets and no suspicions were aroused at SCOPE, the report says. The report made no mention of whether any action would be taken against Tahir and a police spokesman contacted by AFP refused to comment.

Another report today says that the Swiss police are looking into the actions of certain "un-named" swiss citizens. Bet we can put a name to them.

Posted by Steve 2004-2-20 11:14:06 AM|| 2004-2-20 11:14:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 One more, Boston Globe:
One operative named as working for Khan is Peter Griffin, a Briton whom Tahir alleged designed the Libyan workshop and sent eight Libyan technicians to Spain to learn how to use lathes for centrifuge parts. According to the report, two others were Freidrich Tinner, a Swiss engineer whom Khan met in the 1980s, and his son, Urs Tinner, 39, who allegedly worked with Tahir in getting Malaysian company Scomi Precision Engineering, or SCOPE, to produce centrifuge parts. SCOPE engineered more than 25,000 individual parts for a Dubai-based company owned by Griffin, Gulf Technical Industries, under a contract negotiated by Tahir, and shipped them between December 2002 and August 2003.
Swiss authorities have launched an investigation into Urs Tinner's alleged role, officials there said Friday. The Tinner family sent The Associated Press a statement saying Urs Tinner worked for SCOPE in Kuala Lumpur as a technical consultant for the last three years. It said he controlled the manufacture of machinery parts, but that ''information about the customer or the purpose of the goods was unavailable to him during the whole period.'' The parts, in boxes marked with SCOPE's name, were seized in the Mediterranean last October en route from Dubai to Libya.
The family statement said Urs Tinner stopped working for SCOPE last October because he had not been paid his consultancy fees for several months.

A unpaid worker is likely to be a unhappy worker, willing to talk.

Posted by Steve 2004-2-20 4:04:05 PM|| 2004-2-20 4:04:05 PM|| Front Page Top

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