• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

UK investigator sacked for 'unauthorised' nuclear disclosure

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Aug 24, IRNA -- A British customs investigator has been sacked after being accused of leaking classified information about an international nuclear smuggling ring to two US journalists, it was reported Tuesday.

Atif Amin, aged 41, was said to have discovered evidence in 2000 that Abdul Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani scientist responsible for developing the country's nuclear arsenal, was involved in establishing Libya's nuclear programme.

Although Khan’s involvement with the Libyan program was not exposed until it was halted in 2003, Amin allegedly told Britain’s MI5 security service as well as the CIA of his concerns in 2000 but his evidence was ignored and he was told to drop his inquiries.

The claims were revealed in a book published in the US called America and the Islamic Bomb: The Deadly Compromise back in 2007 and due to the confidential nature of the material it was suspected that the British customs investigator leaked the information.

According to the Independent newspaper, Amin was arrested and subjected to a two-year investigation but there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him under Britain’s Official Secrets Act.

Instead, his government employer, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, launched disciplinary proceedings for making 'unauthorised disclosures of highly sensitive material' in a US television news show and dismissed from his post last month for “gross misconduct.”

Amin told the Independent that the only thing he had done was “to give an impromptu interview on matters that were already in the public domain.”

“Because of that I have been subjected to a lengthy investigation which was akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. The investigation had no evidence against me, but yet I have now lost a 17-year career,” he said.

Joseph Trento, co-author of the book, also denied that the customs investigator was the source of the information that was known about Khan in 2000.

“He was not our source. But the even bigger outrage is that his evidence about the Khan network was ignored and therefore it was allowed to operate for a further three years,' Trento said.

2220**1416