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Pakistanis Aided Iran, Libya in Nuclear Weapons Technology

(Washington Post) 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 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. 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.
2004-01-28 00:00:00
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