Malaysian Police Report Details Nuclear Smuggling Network

An alleged middleman in the international nuclear network has told Malaysian authorities that top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan sold nuclear equipment to Iran and shipped Pakistani uranium to Libya, Malaysian police said today (see GSN, Feb. 19).

Malaysian authorities have questioned Buhary Syed Abu (B.S.A.) Tahir in connection with his alleged activities on behalf of Khan in Malaysia, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Feb. 13). A police report released today says Tahir told authorities that Khan had asked him to send two containers of used uranium enrichment centrifuge components from Pakistan to Iran in 1994 or 1995. In exchange, an unnamed Iranian paid “about $3 million,” the report says.

Tahir has also told authorities that Libya received enriched uranium from Pakistani in 2001, according to police.

Malaysian authorities said the report would be provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and that they would cooperate with the agency if it seeks further action. There are no plans yet, though, to arrest Tahir because it does not appear that he violated any Malaysian laws, officials said (Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 20).

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