Please excuse the double posting, but the article seems to be appropriate here, and "Spiegel" has edited it in the mean time as they often do with breaking stories.
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| ATOM-TRANSPORT German Freighter To Have Been Bringing Uranium-Equipment to Libya Libya's announcement to stop development of nuclear weapons was preceded by a large-scale secret operation: American services had stopped, with German and Italian help, a German freighter which shall have been taking thousands of components for uranium enrichment to Tripoli. The ship had already traversed the Suez Canal.
Washington: A spokesman for the U.S. State Department confirmed a corresponding report with these details in the "Wall Street Journal" on Wednesday. The paper reported, referring to government sources, the material had been on a German freighter underway from a gulf state port to Libya when it was seized in October. "On the basis of secret service information, a ship was stopped which was transporting parts for centrifuges (for uranium enrichment) ", the spokesperson said. Neither he nor the government sources gave any details as to who had sold the equipment to Libya. Thousands of centrifuge parts shall have been found on the ship. American and British Intelligence services had found out in September, says the "Wall Street Journal" that the freighter named "BBC China" had taken the provocative cargo on board in the Persian Gulf and was supposed to bring it to Libya. "Spiegel"edited the above paragraph later, to include: The shipping company BBC Charter and Logistics from Leer ordered the captain, who had just traversed the Suez Canal, to put in at an Italian port. The 121 meter long ship which was built in 2000, and sails under the Antigua flag, was shadowed and had the cargo searched by a U.S. warship there. The shipping company was very cooperative With that, they contacted German authorities, who, in turn, contacted the ship's owner. The shipping company ordered the captain, who had just sailed through the Suez Canal, to put in at an Italian port. The ship was shadowed by U.S.warship there, and the cargo was searched. The North-African country had surprisingly recently announced it would stop its program for the development of nuclear weapons and would allow far-reaching international controls. Enriched uranium can be used for the production of nuclear weapons. The government spokesman didn't draw any direct connection between the seizure and the later proclamation by the country, describing the stopping of the delivery to Libya as a "significant and important development" on the way to the withdrawal of the country from its nuclear weapon development. Negotiations concerning the country's atomic program had already been taking place for months between Libya and the USA, as well as Great Britain, he said. The newspaper had reported, referring to government sources, that Libya only opened its atom facilities to the USA and Great Britain only after the discovery of the delivery. © SPIEGEL ONLINE 2004 "Spiegel-Online"....Deutscher Frachter sollte Uran-Ausrüstung nach Libyen bringen
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