‘Indian Offered to Sell Nuke Secrets’

Agencies, Arab News

BOMBAY, 14 June 2004 — Police here were questioning yesterday an Indian man extradited from the United Arab Emirates where he was arrested for allegedly offering to sell nuclear secrets to Arab embassies. Akhtar Hussein Qotb Ahmed, a businessman who Emirates authorities suspected possessed sensitive nuclear information, arrived in Bombay on Saturday night.

“The interrogation is going on at the airport. We are investigating the charges put forth by the Dubai police,” senior police officer Satyapal Singh said.

“We have been told that Akhtar’s brother is working in the Bhabha Atomic Research Center,” Singh said, referring to a premier nuclear research center in Bombay.

“So far he has said that this is a plot hatched by his business rivals. We are investigating all leads. It is too early to arrive at any conclusions,” Singh said. Bombay police have asked their Dubai counterparts to send documents seized from Akhtar and other information in their possession, Singh said. Until those documents arrived, Akhtar could neither be arrested nor let go. On Saturday, Dubai police commander Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim Ahmed said Akhtar, who had been based in the Emirates, was detained following close surveillance of his activities over several years.

He said the suspect had offered to sell information from his brother, identified as Ahmed Hussain.

“Akhtar contacted Arab diplomatic missions in the Emirates and offered to sell nuclear secrets, but they informed the authorities and he was arrested and handed back to India,” the police chief said.

“Akhtar was arrested after it was clear he was working alone. The Indian government was informed and an agreement was reached to extradite him to be tried under Indian law because his attempts had implications for his country’s national security,” the police chief said. He said Akhtar had been extradited rather than put on trial in the UAE because he posed no threat to national security in the Emirates.

Indian officials have not said which countries might have acquired nuclear secrets from Akhtar.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03.

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.

editor@aljazeerah.info