US probing if Pakistan sold nuke tech to Arab states - Express India
US probing if Pakistan sold nuke tech to Arab states
US officials are investigating whether the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb sold nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, Time magazine said in its latest edition.
As the international community focuses on a possible showdown with Iran over its nuclear programme, Time also said Abdul Qadeer Khan's nuclear trafficking network played a larger role in helping Iran and North Korea than had been previously disclosed.
Last year, Khan admitted selling nuclear secrets to Iran as well as to Libya and North Korea, fuelling global fears about nuclear proliferation and technology transfers to terrorist groups.
Iran has denied US charges that it is pursuing nuclear arms and says its programmes are only for peaceful power generation. But privately, Tehran has confirmed at least 13 meetings with Khan's network, Time said.
As head of Pakistan's nuclear research laboratory, Khan travelled the world for more than a decade, laundering smuggling profits with gold dealers in Dubai, Time said. At the height of his powers, he was worth as much as $400 million.
Investigators from the United States and the UN International Atomic Energy Agency believe he also visited Saudia Arabia, Egypt and African countries such as Sudan, Ivory Coast and Niger, Time said.
"The purpose of those trips remains unclear, but intelligence officials have hunches: Saudi Arabia and Egypt are believed to be in the market for nuclear technology, and many African countries are rich in raw uranium ore," the magazine said.
At a meeting in December, President George W. Bush told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that he believed Khan had not confessed all of his nuclear technology transactions, the magazine said, citing knowledgeable sources.
Musharraf agreed but refused to allow non-Pakistanis to interrogate Khan, who is closely guarded at his home in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
Though Khan has been removed from his job and is believed to be in poor health, his network of suppliers and middlemen still exists, Time said, quoting sources close to his laboratories in Islamabad.
"Nothing has changed," one of Khan's former aides was quoted as saying.
"The hardware is still available and the network hasn't stopped."
Time also said some Pakistan officials were vexed that the Swiss and German governments, among others, had failed to arrest individuals implicated by Khan's testimony.
