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| Europe |
| Focus of N-probes shifts from Pakistan to Europe |
| 2004-01-28 |
| The focus of international investigation on nuclear technology transfer to Iran and Libya has shifted this week from Pakistan to several European countries, including the Netherlands that harbours designers and developers of uranium enrichment centrifuges used in the nuclear programmes of Pakistan, Iran, Libya and North Korea, a source in Hague told The News. After Pakistani authorities indicated that debriefing of top Pakistani nuclear scientists is reaching its culmination, IAEA and European investigators undertook investigations into nuclear proliferation. The probe would identify the role played by European scientists and nuclear managers associated with some top companies in Europe in illegal transfer of nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, the source said. The core question that European investigators are probing is whether designs for uranium enrichment centrifuges, developed by the Dutch unit of Urenco, which Tehran allegedly acquired from a middleman in 1980s, came from inside Pakistan or Urenco provided it to Tehran, or their source were the companies that supply components to Urenco. Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot and Economic Affairs Minister Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst in their written replies last week, to questions from a Dutch member of Parliament (MP), have already admitted that there were "indications" North Korea and Libya might have acquired potentially arms-related nuclear technology developed in Europe that Pakistan and Iran are known to possess, the source said. The Dutch ministers confirmed that the authorities in the Netherlands were investigating the source of supply, to Iran, of designs for uranium enrichment centrifuges developed by the Dutch unit of Urenco, which is suspected to have been done by a middleman. The ministers also confirmed that the same technology, developed by the British-Dutch-German Urenco consortium, may have found its way into Libya and North Korea. In their reply to the MP, the two Dutch ministers said "the source supplying the Urenco technology to Libya and Iran was not clear", adding, "the matter was being probed". Urenco is the same Dutch/German/British uranium enrichment facility in the Netherlands where the father of Pakistani nuclear bomb, Dr Qadeer Khan, had been working in 1970s. Despite his repeated denial of all charges related to alleged involvement in nuclear espionage, a court in Amsterdam sentenced him in absentia to four years in jail in 1983. Pledging the Netherlands cooperation in the investigation the Dutch ministers in their reply to the MP said, "The Netherlands has offered full cooperation to the IAEA in investigating the technology’s origins." The Dutch ministers said, "The IAEA investigations into the origins of Iran’s enrichment technology led to a clear conclusion" adding, "it would concern Urenco technology from the 1970s." Buoyed by the information ascertained through a professional but preliminary scrutiny of the nuclear programmes of Iran and Libya, IAEA inspectors and experts have concluded that scientists, nuclear manager and companies from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the UK, France and other western European countries need to be investigated thoroughly to ascertain the truth on the basis of the evidence in possession of the IAEA. Dutch and German intelligence agencies are engaged in investigating what they describe as the "crucial leads" related to some officials of the Dutch-British-German consortium, the Urenco. Urenco has been named as one of the companies that had allegedly been playing a role in Iran’s centrifuge programme, but the company’s spokesman has vehemently denied the allegation of supplying nuclear components to Iran or Libya. European investigators do not rule out that the European countries that supply components to Urenco might have sold the same pieces of technology to Iran. Based on the conclusion drawn by experts associated with the international watchdog, the probe in Europe has been widened. Authorities in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the UK, France and the Netherlands have also been asked to investigate the companies across Europe that had been supplying the components to Urenco, the source said. European investigators are concentrating on identifying the source which allegedly supplied the first drawing of centrifuge technology to Iran in late 1980. The investigators expect to unravel covert activities of more than two decades through investigations launched to identify cartels of the "middle men" who had been helping in illegal transfer of nuclear technology to Iran and Libya. Some intelligence outfits in Europe believe that the investigation to identify the source or sources that had been supplying nuclear technology to Iran could not be completed without launching a thorough probe into the companies which had been providing Pakistan the most sophisticated nuclear components to build its nuclear programme, the source said. "The nuclear investigation in Europe will be a multi-pronged exercise. Its main targets will be those ‘middle men’ who had been helping in nuclear programme of any country in the world," the source said. Meanwhile, European investigators are also examining a brochure which had been allegedly handed out by some Pakistani scientists at trade shows in France, Germany and other countries. The brochure with a picture of Dr AQ Khan on its cover page, according to the interpretation of European investigators, implied that "Pakistani scientists were willing to sell sensitive centrifuge know-how to whosoever wanted to purchase that," the source said. |
| Posted by:Nick |
| #1 The Netherlands have long been a lucrative crossroads for arms deals. The Iranians were buying materiel from there during their war with Iraq. It's not that big a stretch to move up to dealing in nuke-related stuff. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-1-28 7:04:30 PM |