AQ Khan investigator being probed
munaeem | 19 December, 2007 11:25
Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: A British customs agent who
investigated the nuclear smuggling network of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has
himself become the target of a British criminal probe after being
prominently featured in a book by American researchers, according to an
article published in The Washington Post on Sunday.
Atif
Amin’s house and car were searched last week by British authorities
with warrants alleging violations of the country’s Official Secrets
Act, according to legal documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The
action came less than two months after the publication of “America and
the Islamic Bomb,” which chronicles Amin’s efforts to uncover the Khan
network in 2000, more than three years before US and British
intelligence officials broke up the smuggling ring.
The book’s
authors, David Armstrong and Joseph Trento, contend that Western
intelligence agencies knowingly allowed the smuggling ring to operate
for years before moving to shut it down. During this interlude, Khan
passed nuclear parts and know-how to Iran, North Korea and Libya, the
authors contend.
Smuggling network: “It’s a story Washington
and London do not want out,” said Armstrong. “If Amin can be
discredited, it would distract the public from the fact that the US and
Britain prevented the most dangerous nuclear smuggling operation in
history from being shut down when the opportunity existed.”
In
the book, Amin is described as the director of Operation Akin, a
customs investigation that in 2000 began targeting Persian Gulf-based
companies allegedly involved in the trafficking of militarily sensitive
technology. While working on the investigation in Dubai, Amin began
tracing the flow of nuclear-related equipment through companies with
ties to Dr Khan, the article said. In the spring of 2000, as Amin
closed in on Khan at the centre of the smuggling operation, he was
ordered to quit the case and return to Britain, the authors state.
The
reason given to Amin for the abrupt change was that British and US
spies who were monitoring the network were worried that his questioning
would disrupt their operation and expose informants, the article said.
Amin complied with the orders, but, according to the book, complained
bitterly about what he says was a missed opportunity to crush the
smuggling ring early.
“They knew exactly what was going on all
the time,” Amin is quoted as saying. “If they’d wanted to, they could
have blown the whistle on this long ago.”
