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German engineer pleads guilty in So Africa to nuclear smuggling
A German engineer was sentenced to three years house arrest by a South African court Tuesday after pleading guilty to involvement in a nuclear smuggling ring headed by the father of the Pakistani nuclear programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Gerhard Wisser, 68, was sentenced to three years house arrest and a suspended jail term of 18 years in the Pretoria High Court after pleading guilty to seven charges of contravening the Non- Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, the Nuclear Energy Act and to two charges of forgery.

The trial of his co-accused, Swiss engineer Daniel Geiges, who is seriously ill with cancer, was postponed to September 21.

Wisser and Geiges were accused of attempting to smuggle equipment to Libya
Wisser and Geiges were accused of attempting to smuggle equipment to Libya for use in that country's nuclear weapons programme, which Libyan leader Moammer Gaddafi publicly renounced in December 2003.

The two men were arrested after police discovered part of an uranium enrichment plant in a raid on a Johannesburg factory in September 2004.

The find blew the lid on the South African link in a nuclear smuggling network headed by the so-called father of the Pakistani nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan.

As part of a plea bargain, Wisser, the former managing director of Johannesburg-based Krisch Engineering, consented to the seizure of millions of euros in his overseas assets. Wisser has also agreed to co-operate with South African and overseas authorities in investigating other alleged members of the global nuclear smuggling ring.

A German court last year ordered a retrial in the case against another German engineer suspected of playing a key role in the network, Gotthard Lerch, after accusing the authorities of withholding documents.

Khan admitted to selling Pakistani nuclear technology and is now under house arrest in Pakistan.
Until Benazir grabs power again, when he will be openly feted as a national hero once more.

Posted by: lotp 2007-09-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=198656