Malaysia Seizes Iran-Bound Cargo Ship

Malaysian police have confirmed they have seized two containers at Port Klang which may contain parts used to make nuclear weapons, from a ship bound for western Asia

 

 

 

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysian police confirmed on Thursday they have seized two containers which may contain parts used to make nuclear weapons, from a ship bound for western Asia.

"I can confirm that we have seized the containers at Port Klang but we do not know yet whether these are possibly parts to help make weapons of mass destruction or nuclear items," national police chief Ismail Omar told AFP.

"We are waiting for a report from our nuclear agency on the parts seized before we can make any determination and investigations are still ongoing," he added.

His comments follow a front page story in the influential Sun daily which said police had seized "parts of an equipment believed used to make weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warhead" from a ship about 10 days ago.

The paper said the Malaysian-registered vessel, which had arrived from China and was headed for western Asia, carried dismantled equipment parts which were listed among items subject to controlled and restricted sale by the UN Security Council and other international laws.

It said the captain and crew were questioned by police before being allowed to leave port with their vessel, while authorities impounded the two containers and their contents.

Last April, Premier Najib Razak said his country would strictly enforce a new law to curb trafficking of nuclear weapons components after being linked to the illegal supply of sensitive technology to Iran and Libya.
Malaysia's parliament passed the Strategic Trade Bill early last year, which provides for prison terms of at least five years and fines of millions of dollars for those illegally bringing in or exporting material that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction.

The government has denied involvement in the illegal 2008 export of nuclear weapons to Iran although it confirmed the involvement of one of its nationals.

In addition, a Sri Lankan businessman living in Malaysia was jailed in 2004 for allegedly supplying nuclear weapon components to Libya and linked to a nuclear black market run by Pakistan's disgraced scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Khan had admitted passing nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea in a confession in February 2004, placing him in the thick of a global atomic black market.


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