A probe into a global nuclear smuggling ring widened Thursday as two Germans were charged by a South African court with illegally exporting equipment to enrich uranium, a key ingredient for making bombs.
Gerhard Wisser, 66, and Daniel Geiges, 65, living permanently in South Africa, appeared before a local court on four counts of contravening the Nuclear Energy Act and a law banning the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
PHOTO: AP
Their arrests followed that of a South African businessman over his alleged involvement in a nuclear smuggling network thought to be linked to Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and aimed at helping Libya develop atomic weapons.
The two Germans "unlawfully and intentionally imported, held in transit and exported goods which may contribute to the design, development, production, deployment, maintenance or use of weapons of mass destruction without a permit," the charge sheet said.
The three other charges relate to the possession, manufacture and export of equipment for the enrichment of uranium.
The case against the two men was postponed in the Vanderbijlpark regional court, 80km south of Johannesburg, for a formal bail application on Tuesday. The two men were not asked to plead.
Last Thursday, South African businessman Johan Meyer was arrested for his alleged links to the international network and charged with possessing sensitive nuclear-related equipment and clandestinely importing and exporting nuclear material.
But the charges were abruptly dropped on Wednesday, and the Germans were arrested the same day, fuelling speculation that the 53-year-old Meyer had agreed to cooperate with the state in exchange for immunity.
Lawyer Kevin Cross, who represents Geiges, told reporters his client "vehemently denies the charges against him."
"It came as a complete shock to my client and we are going to fight this tooth and nail," he said.
Cross said Geiges was an engineer at a firm north of Johannesburg.
Appearing for Wisser, lawyer Anant Choudree said they were talking to police investigators to find out the exact nature of the charges.
"At this stage, we do not know what the exact charges are and need to consult with our client."
The two men are to remain in police custody pending further hearings.
German prosecutors detained Wisser last month on suspicion of having served as an intermediary in 2001 between the international network and a South African company designated to deliver equipment such as centrifuge pipes used in the enrichment of uranium to Libya.
Khan admitted in February to helping Libya, Iran and North Korea develop their weapons programs and he was later granted a pardon from President Pervez Musharraf.
Libya announced late last year that it was abandoning attempts to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons after months of secret negotiations with London and Washington.
Showcasing phallus-shaped portable shrines and pink penis candies, Japan’s annual fertility festival yesterday teemed with tourists, couples and families elated by its open display of sex. The spring Kanamara Matsuri near Tokyo features colorfully dressed worshipers carrying a trio of giant phallic-shaped objects as they parade through the street with glee. The festival, as legend has it, honors a local blacksmith in the Edo Period (1603-1868) who forged an iron dildo to break the teeth of a sharp-toothed demon inhabiting a woman’s vagina that had been castrating young men on their wedding nights. A 1m black steel phallus sits in the courtyard of
HIGH HOPES: The power source is expected to have a future, as it is not dependent on the weather or light, and could be useful for places with large desalination facilities A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis — when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one — has long been known. However, actually generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass. Engineers in Fukuoka, Japan, and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world’s second osmotic power plant. It generates
JAN. 1 CLAUSE: As military service is voluntary, applications for permission to stay abroad for over three months for men up to age 45 must, in principle, be granted A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany’s military service policy has triggered an uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime. The legislation, which went into effect on Jan. 1 aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription. If the “modernized” model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of compulsory service, German
Hundreds of Filipinos and tourists flocked to a sun-bleached field north of Manila yesterday, on Good Friday, to witness one of the country’s most blood-soaked displays of religious fervor, undeterred by rising fuel prices. Scores of bare-chested flagellants with covered faces walked barefoot through the dusty streets of Pampanga Province’s San Fernando as they flogged their backs with bamboo whips in the scorching heat. Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists said they saw devotees deliberately puncturing their skin with glass shards attached to a small wooden paddle to ensure their bleeding during the ritual, a way to atone for sins and seek miracles from
RSS