Businessman Arrested For "Smuggling Nuclear Equipment To Pakistan"
LONDON, Aug 2 (News Agencies) - A Pakistani-British businessman was arrested and produced in a Crown Court on Wednesday in London to face charges for allegedly smuggling high-tech equipment out of the U.K. to Pakistan for use in its nuclear weapon industry, the Pakistani newspaper The News reported Thursday.
Prosecutors told the Southwark Crown Court in southeast London that businessman Abu Siddiqui, of Ealing in west London, resorted to lying to dodge the strict controls over the transfer of equipment, which could be used for weapons of mass destruction.
According to prosecutors, Siddiqui allegedly sent key machinery components to the Abdul Qadeer Khan Research Laboratory, headquarters of Pakistan's nuclear weapon's program, which is run by an unnamed friend of Siddqui's who was the pioneer of Pakistan's first successful nuclear test explosion in 1998.
Prosecutor Michael Chawla QC, charged that between 1995 and 1999, Siddiqui smuggled out a five-ton gantry crane, a 12-ton furnace, a coordinate measuring machine and aluminum bars. All machinery was designated as dual-use goods that could be used for both civilian, as well as military purposes.
Chawla added, "But they were all destined for Pakistan's nuclear weapons industry and they were destined for that industry to the knowledge of Siddiqui and knowing that was the end use of these particular goods."
Siddiqui has pleaded not guilty to all three counts of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of restrictions on the export of goods, three charges of exporting without license and one count of being concerned in the fraudulent attempt to evade restrictions on exporting goods.
