Free Republic

LONDON – A Dubai-based company in the United Arab Emirates has been cited as the linchpin in the lucrative nuclear weapons black market that has supplied Iran, Libya and North Korea. The United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency have determined that the UAE company served as the hub for the traffic of nuclear weapons components. Officials said the company coordinated with a range of nuclear suppliers for orders from such countries as Iran, Libya and North Korea. The Bush administration identified the UAE firm as SMB Computers, a key element in the nuclear weapons black market operated by...

Abdul Qadeer Khan under 'house arrest' STANDFIRST, Jan 31: Investigators have uncovered a sophisticated black market in components with Islamabad at its centre. While on a tour of eight Asian countries in the summer of 2002, Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, arrived in Islamabad with a special request. Mr Powell asked President, General Pervez Musharraf, to arrest Abdul Qadeer Khan, the mastermind of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme and a hero in the country. He said Mr Khan needed to be questioned over the alleged secret trading of Pakistan's nuclear technology to North Korea and he had evidence. An...