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--- "SA link to nuke black market," by Graeme Hosken,
PRETORIA NEWS, September 7, 2004

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:5PvUBJJjGjgJ:www.pretorianews.co.za/index.php%3FfSectionId%3D270%26fArticleId%3D2215099+%22gerhard+wisser%22+&hl=en

The role of several South African citizens and their businesses in a nuclear black market is being investigated by an international nuclear watchdog.

The high-level investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), comes as scientists and engineers from Pelindaba examine more than 11 truck loads of equipment, allegedly used in the production of nuclear materials.

The items seized from Pretoria engineer Johan Meyer (53) include centrifuges which are used for the enrichment of uranium. Enriched uranium can be used in the manufacturing of nuclear weapons.

The equipment, which was allegedly to be sold to Pakistan, was taken to Pelindaba at the weekend to be tested to see if uranium had passed through the centrifuges.

Meyer, who is to appear in the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate's Court tomorrow, was arrested last Thursday at his factory Trade Fin Engineering.

He is alleged to have contravened the South African Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Treaty and the South African Nuclear Energy Act.

The IAEA believes that Meyer is part of an international nuclear smuggling syndicate.

The IAEA, NIA, SAPS, and NPA have been investigating Trade Fin Engineering for more than a year.

The Pretoria News has learnt that apart from Meyer's company being under investigation, several other Gauteng businessmen and Centurion-based companies - which the investigators have not identified - are being probed for their alleged role in the nuclear black market network.

The IAEA began investigating the network, headed by Pakistan's nuclear bomb "father", Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, in February this year.

The network is a "shopping business" for people and countries dealing in illegal nuclear materials.

The investigation began after the IAEA received information that Libya was purchasing materials from the market to make a nuclear bomb.

The market is also believed to be the main purchasing point for countries such as Iran and North Korea.

The nuclear black market, according to IAEA spokesman Melissa Fleming, deals in the trade of blueprints for nuclear devices, as well as materials such as centrifuges.

She said the nuclear black market was established by Khan.

Fleming said the network consisted of hundreds of people and businesses from more than 20 countries.
"As well as looking at the nuclear black market and its relationship with Libya, North Korea and Iran, the organisation is also trying to establish whether there are other customers buying materials from this market," she said.

Fleming declined to deny or confirm allegations that other South Africans or South African businesses were also involved in the nuclear black market.

IAEA's fact finding mission spokesman Peter Rickwood said the team was looking at all aspects of the network in relation to South Africa.

He said that the investigators, who were helping South African law enforcement and nuclear authorities, would look at all of those who had dealings with the network.

The mission is believed to be providing South African authorities with technical advice and data to determine whether any recovered equipment has been sold to this country by the network or is being used in the illegal manufacturing of nuclear devices. Rickwood declined to comment on the extent of the involvement of South African citizens and businesses for fear of alerting other suspects.

Dr Abdul Minty, chairman of the South African Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, who announced the news of Meyer's arrest, confirmed they were working with the IAEA mission.

NIA spokesman Lorna Daniels said the intelligence communities were involved in the investigation but could not comment on its nature. - Crime Reporter.

List of suspects

South Africans arrested in connection with the Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan's suspected nuclear black market:

Asher Karni (50), the first South African businessman arrested. He was caught in the US in January. He was allegedly buying "triggers" for medical purposes. The triggers can be used in nuclear weapons;

Gerhard Wisser (65), the second South African businessman arrested. He was captured in Germany two weeks ago. He is alleged to have worked as a mediator to obtain an order for a SA company to make and supply aluminum tubing to be used in an African uranium enrichment plant;

Gottard Lerch (61), a Swiss-South African national. He allegedly helped Wisser in his businesses and the nuclear transactions. Arrested at the same time as Wisser;

Johan Meyer (53), the fourth South African businessman arrested for allegedly dealing in illegal nuclear devices.

Hmmm. any connection to this?

OCTOBER 15, 2002 : (REPORT : UK'S INTELLIGENCE SERVICE MI6 HAS UNCOVERED FRENCH, GERMAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN EQUIPPING OF IRAQ; SAY IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER NADHIM JABOURI MAKES CONTACT WITH SOUTH AFRICAN NUCLEAR ENGINEERS AND ARMSCOR OFFICIALS) An MI6 investigation has uncovered how France, Germany and South Africa have equipped Iraq with almost £1 billion of equipment capable of being used to boost Saddam's arsenal. The sales have been approved by the UN sanctions committee after "intense lobbying" from the countries involved - and supported by China and Russia. Both already have substantial trade deals with Iraq.
UN Resolution 1409, adopted last May, allows exports to Iraq of a wide range of equipment with military applications. Agricultural sprayers which could be adapted to disperse biological weapons. Fibre-optics and telecommunications hardware have a dual capability of creating a powerful air-defence network. Much of this equipment has come from Europe's leading technology giants - Siemens in Germany and Alcatel in France.
All were sold for civilian use only. But some of the equipment includes neutron generators which UN weapons inspectors discovered were key components in the crude gun-implosion nuclear device Iraq had created before the 1991 Gulf War.
....Last week, a top Iraqi intelligence officer, Nadhim Jabouri, arrived at the Iraqi embassy in Pretoria to pursue contacts with South African nuclear engineers and meet with senior officials at Armscor, the country's arms corporation. MI6 believe Jabouri's task is to obtain the vital aluminium tubes needed for the enrichment centrifuges to produce a nuclear bomb.
The MI6 report says the willingness of the South African government to help Iraq lies behind the extraordinary outburst by the country's former president, Nelson Mandela, who recently branded President Bush as "a threat to world peace" - not Saddam Hussein. But it is Europe's role in helping Saddam that will cause fury in Washington and London.
In Iraq the operation is controlled by Saddam's older son, Uday. Central to it is freeing large sums of money from Iraq's blocked account in the Banque Nationale de Paris. The money is deposited in the bank's New York branch. Once the UN sanctions committee approves an export licence to Iraq, the money is freed.
"Uday relies on middlemen to sign the contracts for food and medicine. But in reality the contracts are for dual purpose equipment", an Iraqi defector has told MI6 investigators. -- "MI6 Report Reveals How France, Germany And South Africa Boost Saddam's Arsenal," by Gordon Thomas, Globe Intel, 10/15/02 , http://www.gordonthomas.ie/, page http://www.life-info.de/inh1./texte/GLOBE_INTEL2.html.