Pakistanis Exploited Nuclear Network

The Washington Post ^ | January 28, 2004 | Kamran Khan

[neverdem]

Iran, Libya Aided Via Black Market, Investigation Finds

KARACHI, Pakistan, Jan. 27 -- Pakistani investigators have concluded that two senior nuclear scientists used a network of middlemen operating a black market to supply nuclear weapons technology to Iran and Libya, according to three senior Pakistani intelligence officials. Abdul Qadeer Khan, considered the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, and Mohammed Farooq provided the help -- including blueprints for equipment used to enrich uranium -- both directly and through a black market based in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, the officials said.

The middlemen, from South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, allegedly also offered the Pakistani scientists' services to Syria and Iraq. But the deals apparently never materialized, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In return for the scientists' assistance in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Iran channeled millions of dollars to foreign bank accounts allegedly controlled by the two men, one of whom, Khan, amassed large real estate holdings in Pakistan and Dubai, the officials said. Khan and Farooq were longtime colleagues at the country's premier nuclear weapons laboratory, A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories, which is named for Khan.

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1063815/posts

"Musharraf Says Appears Scientists Sold Secrets"
Reuters ^ | January 23 2004


Posted on 01/23/2004 9:13:50 AM PST by knighthawk


ARTICLE SNIPPET: "DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday it appeared Pakistani scientists had sold nuclear secrets abroad, but reiterated Islamabad's position that there had been no official involvement. Pakistan says it began questioning its nuclear scientists, including the father of its atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, after the U.N. nuclear agency began investigating possible links between the Pakistani and Iranian nuclear programs."

[observer5]

"but reiterated Islamabad's position that there had been no official involvement."

Liar...

[angkor]

"In 1983 a Dutch court convicted Dr. Abdul Qader Khan, head of Pakistan's nuclear program, on charges of stealing the blueprints for a uranium enrichment factory. . . . Kahn's lawyer was paid by BCCI.

"In 1984, three Pakistani nationals were indicted in Houston for attempting to buy and ship to Pakistan, high-speed switches designed to trigger nuclear weapons. The trio offered to pay in gold supplied by BCCI.

"In 1987 two Americans, Rita and Arnold Mandel, together with Hong Kong businessman Leung Yu Hung, were indicted by the U.S. Attorney in Sacramento, California, on charges of illegal importations of $1 billion worth of oscilloscopes and computer equipment for Pakistan's nuclear program. . . . BCCI facilitated [some of the shipments]"

"In 1987 in Philadelphia, Ashad Pervez, a Pakistani-born Canadian, was indicted for conspiring to export restricted specialty steel and metal used to enhance nuclear explosions. ... He . . . paid high prices with money delivered to the Toronto BCCI branch from BCCI London" (Rachel Ehrenfeld, Evil Money, HarperCollins, 1992).

[Mr. Mojo]

Allowing a radical Islamist country to have a nuclear arsenal could very well turn out to be the worst mistake we've ever made.