Nuclear Smuggler Pleads Guilty, Gets No Prison Time

German engineer Gerhard Wisser is not expected to serve time in prison after pleading guilty to involvement in a nuclear smuggling ring yesterday in South Africa, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 1).

The Pretoria High Court handed down an 18-year suspended sentence against Wisser.  Under a plea agreement, the sentence is to be suspended for five years, though Wisser must serve three years of correctional monitoring.  He also must give up more than $4.6 million he collected as a participant in the smuggling ring once led by top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan (see GSN, Aug. 22).

Prosecutors in South Africa in 2004 charged that Wisser and Swiss engineer Daniel Geiges “unlawfully and intentionally imported, held in transit and exported goods which may contribute to the design, development, production, deployment, maintenance or use of weapons of mass destruction without a permit.”

They were charged with violating South Africa’s Nuclear Energy Act and Nonproliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act.

Geiges’ case is scheduled to be heard on Sept. 21, AP reported (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Sept. 4).

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