KUALA LUMPUR, 21 February 2004 — Citizens of Germany, Turkey, Britain and Switzerland were named in a Malaysian police report as alleged middlemen involved in the nuclear arms black market.
The report names the following as “among the middlemen alleged to have links with” Pakistan’s Abdul Qadeer Khan:
SWITZERLAND: Friedrich Tinner, mechanical engineer, is alleged to have had dealings with Khan since the 1980s, preparing centrifuge components and sourcing materials.
Urs Tinner, son of Friedrich Tinner, was allegedly actively involved in the manufacturing operations of the Malaysian company which was the subject of the probe.
GERMANY: The late Heinz Mebus, an engineer, is alleged to have been involved in discussions between Khan and Iran to supply centrifuge designs about 1984-85.
Gotthard Lerch, a German living in Switzerland, allegedly tried to obtain “supplies of pipes” from South Africa for a project called “Machine Shop 1001” which aimed to set up a workshop in Libya to make centrifuge components. He failed “even though payment had been made by Libya earlier.”
BRITAIN: Peter Griffin, “a British citizen who is believed to have once owned Gulf Technical Industries based in Dubai”, is alleged to have been the middleman involved in the project “Machine Shop 1001”. He is said to be now retired and living in France.
TURKEY: Gunas Jireh “is alleged to have supplied aluminum casting and dynamos to Libya at the request of the nuclear arms expert (Khan).” Selim Alguadis is alleged “to have supplied electrical cabinets and power supplier-voltage regulator to Libya” through arrangements made by Tahir.
