Father of Pakistani atomic bomb simply stole secret materials from Dutch firm

Justice bodies of the Netherlands propose to open criminal proceedings against the Dutch accomplice of Pakistani atom scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

The Pakistani in the 1970s stole secret materials from the Dutch firm Urenco. He used them in developing Pakistan's atomic bomb, announced the prosecutor's office of the Netherlands.

The Dutchman, Henk S., whose full name is not revealed, is suspected of delivering various strategic materials to Pakistan. In particular, he is suspected of illegally supplying in 1999 to Pakistan pressure gauges of the Baratron type. It is believed that they were sold to a Pakistani company linked with Qadeer Khan's research laboratories.

These gauges are used in fuel tanks of Pakistani rockets. They figure on an international list of strategic goods whose export is banned.

Henk S. is also suspected of supplying to Pakistan in 2002 different kinds of industrial bearings, both ball and magnetic ones. They are categorised as dual capable materials which can be used both for civilian and military purposes. In particular, they can be used in atomic bombs and in missiles carrying a nuclear warhead.

According to the prosecutor's office, Henk S. also took out of the Netherlands, without appropriate permits, 20 kilogrammes of triethanolamine, which can be used as a raw material for the manufacture of a toxic agent - the mustard gas.

Henk S. is also suspected of delivering from the Netherlands to Pakistan a number of other goods which can be used for military purposes.

The scandal around Pakistan's nuclear programme that erupted over volunteer evidence of the father Abdul Qadeer Khan about supplying nuclear technologies to Iran, Libya, and North Korea has gradually petered out, while Abdul Qadeer was amnestied by Pakistan's President Perwez Musharraf, who cited the special services rendered by the scientist to the Pakistani nation.