German man in court over Libya atomic weapons

Reuters UK ^ | August 26 2004

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BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man suspected of helping a Libyan bid to acquire atomic weapons technology in 2001 has been released on bail, the federal prosecutor's office says.

The man, who lives in South Africa and was named only as Gerhard W., 65, is suspected of passing on to a South African company a request from an illegal procurement network based in Dubai to supply Libya with gas centrifuge equipment used for uranium enrichment, the office said.

Although the firm built the centrifuge, it was never delivered to Libya, it said, adding it was still looking into the extent that Gerhard W. was involved in the network.

He was paid one million euros for his services, the office said.

Enrichment is the purification of uranium for use as fuel in nuclear power plants or, when highly enriched, in weapons.

Experts say getting bomb-grade material is the biggest hurdle countries with nuclear weapons ambitions must overcome.

The German prosecutor's office said it had been investigating Gerhard W. and another man, Gotthard L., 61, who lives in Switzerland, since June this year.

They are suspected of "acting as accessories to attempted treason" and "aiding the attempted development of atomic weapons," it said.

Police earlier this month raided two homes in the state of Hesse where Gerhard W. was currently staying, while Swiss police at the same time searched a home of Gotthard L., the office said. Documents and bank statements were seized, it added.

Libya began its quest to build nuclear weapons in 1980 and in 1997 decided to seek centrifuge equipment through the atomic black market, which was established in the 1980s by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb.

Libya uncovered its weapons programme in December 2003 and agreed earlier this year to a process of disarmament.

German prosecutors are continuing their investigations, the office said on Thursday.

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Ping

[Peach]

Released on bail?

[deltabravo225]

this is why we went to war with saddam. follow me khan was selling nuclear technology to iran, north korea, and libya. weird iraq was not part of it. we toppled saddams Khadifah said here is my nukes right after iraq. do i smell connection. yellow cake not from niger but libya. libya is in africa. were are saddams nuclear scientists not in iraq but in libya where inspectors could not interview them. in closing saddams was going to get his nuke made and delivered from Libia.