ElBaradei says A Q Khan just tip of atomic iceberg

06 Feb, 2004

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Thursday the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb was not working alone in creating an illicit network to sell nuclear technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea.
"Dr (Abdul Qadeer) Khan was not working alone," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters, saying he had help from people in many different countries. "Dr Khan is the tip of an iceberg for us."
Khan publicly confessed to leaking nuclear secrets on Wednesday, but said that the Pakistan government and military knew nothing of his black market activities.
ElBaradei said he was not even sure Khan was the one in charge of a nuclear black market created to skirt sanctions and sell sensitive technology to countries subject to embargo.
"I don't know whether he (Khan) was the head. He was clearly an important part," he said.
"We're still in the process of investigating this whole network of supply, so we haven't really seen the complete picture. I think that's really our number one priority."
He said Pakistan was being very helpful in providing the agency with information needed to help crush the nuclear black market though ElBaradei said he wanted more information from Islamabad.

Read Comments