Taiwan implicated in Libyan arms smuggling case

An illegal shipment of Scud missile parts bound for Libya which was seized in the UK almost two months ago originated in Taiwan, London's Sunday Times reported yesterday.

"A seizure of Scud missile parts was made on Nov. 24 at Gatwick airport from a flight bound for Tripoli via Malta," a British customs spokesperson told a news agency in London.

"Our investigations into this seizure are continuing and no further details are being released at the moment," the spokesperson said.

A knitwear company called Hontex (洪良), whose offices are located in Yungkang, Tainan County and which has a factory located in China's Fujian province, originally sent the shipment of 32 boxes, the Sunday Times reported. The shipment was marked as spare auto parts.

Among the missile parts discovered were components of a jet propulsion system which would triple the range of Tripoli's existing Russian-made Scuds, the report added.

The crates were discovered in an airport transit shed during a joint operation by the intelligence services and Customs and Excise, according to the report. Accompanying paperwork indicated that the shipment originated with Hontex and other crates had already reached Libya, the report said.

According to the Hontex Company Web site, the company is a division of the Taiwanese textile company Namliong (南良), whose offices are located at the same address in Tainan County.

Namliong chairman Hsiao Teng-po's (蕭登波) family members denied knowledge of the shipment and the incident when contacted by local newspapers yesterday, but confirmed that Namliong had invested in Hontex.

Shipment of the parts, which give the missiles a range of 900km, violates a European Union arms embargo against Libya and an international treaty banning the proliferation of ballistic missiles.

Scud missiles were first deployed by the Soviet Union in the mid-1960s and designed to carry nuclear or conventional warheads. They are also capable of carrying biological or chemical weapons.

The find represents a blow to Libya-UK relations, which were reestablished in July after a 15-year hiatus. Ties were severed after British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead by someone from within London's Libyan embassy in 1984.

Commercial flights between London and Tripoli resumed after Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi handed over two suspects accused of bombing Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988. The crash, which has been termed the worst terrorist act in UK history, killed 270 people.

UK foreign secretary Robin Cook is scheduled to meet Libyan Ambassador Saad Mujber this week, and the new Libyan em-bassy in London is scheduled to open next week.