Japanese police yesterday raided a trading company in Tokyo suspected of illegally exporting equipment to North Korea that could be used to create biological weapons, a news report said.
The company, Seishin Shoji, allegedly exported a freeze dryer that could be used to cultivate germs or other pathogens for possible weapons, Kyodo News reported, citing police.
Seishin Shoji is suspected of shipping the equipment to North Korea through Taiwan in September 2002, the news agency said.
It is suspected of violating the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law, which obliges exporters of such devices to apply for government permission, Kyodo reported.
Investigators from the Yamaguchi and Shimane police departments in western Japan raided about 10 locations, including the office of Seishin Shoji in Tokyo, the agency reported.
They discovered the alleged illegal export during investigations into a theft case, Kyodo said.
Both Yamaguchi and Shimane police said they could not comment on the report.
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