Tuesday, November 27, 2007

AQ Khan's nuclear smuggling network

The South Africa Mail & Guardian has a story on another trial postponement for Swiss design engineer Daniel Geiges ("cancer of the rectum and was undergoing 'severe treatment'"). He is co-accused with his boss German engineer Gerhard Wisser:

"... Wisser was the MD of Randburg engineering company Krisch Engineering, and Geiges his chief engineer.

"Wisser earlier admitted that he had been involved in the clandestine illegal import, export and manufacturing of components of centrifuge enrichment plants destined for Pakistan and Libya's now-defunct nuclear development programme.

"He admitted to dealing with Sri Lankan businessman Buhary Tahir and Swiss-based German businessman Gotthard Lerch, who in turn assisted Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan in the clandestine acquisition of nuclear technology for Pakistan and Libya.

"According to a report by an American nuclear expert, Wisser's activities could have played a critical role in enabling Libya to produce enough highly enriched uranium for several nuclear weapons.

"Judge Khami Makhafola on Tuesday postponed Geiges's trial to February 5 next year, when he will have to appear in court again to determine the way forward."

2 comments:

AerynSun said...
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AerynSun said...

AQ Khan's adventures

Catherine Collins and Douglas Frantz, co-authors of The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World's Most Dangerous Secrets ... and How We Could Have Stopped Him, have an article up on Asia Times Online, "How you helped build Pakistan's bomb". It's a brief, entertaining story on how nuclear technology was developed by AQ Khan, with the help of Americans, Russians, and Europeans and their corporations.