Malaysia helps US and Britain probe Libya nuclear link

09 Jan, 2004

Malaysian police are working with US and British intelligence services on an investigation into the supply of parts crucial to Libya's secret nuclear weapons programme, a government official said on Thursday.
Centrifuge parts from Malaysia were found aboard a cargo ship bound for Libya last October, he said.
Centrifuges are used for enriching uranium for nuclear reactors or fissile material for bombs.
"I believe the police are investigating, and they are working with the CIA and Mi6," said the Malaysian official, referring to US and British intelligence agencies.
Other countries would inevitably be implicated as the story unfolded, the official told Reuters.
He declined to divulge more details of the investigation into the sale of the equipment, which is available through middlemen on the black market.
Libya said last month it would abandon its weapons of mass destruction programmes and would allow snap inspections of its atomic facilities.
Britain says Libya was close to making a nuclear bomb and US officials have described its programme as "much further advanced than believed".

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