SA mom on nuke smuggling rap

2007-11-08 23:05

Philip de Bruin

Cape Town - A mother has appeared in Cape Town Magistrate's Court on charges of helping to smuggle parts used in manufacturing nuclear weapons from the United States to South Africa.

Marisa Sketo, 46, who sometimes uses the surname Kirsh, allegedly also helped to "export" the nuclear weapon parts illegally from South Africa to Pakistan.

She is facing charges under the Weapons of Mass Destruction Act. The trial has been rescheduled for January 23, according to a court official.

A US source said the parts she allegedly helped to smuggle to Pakistan were "rapid high-voltage electric switches".

A nuclear weapons expert, who did not want to be named, said these switches "were lethal when used in nuclear weapons".

The nuclear weapons could not be manufactured without them, said the expert.

"It's an essential part in making atomic bombs. The fact that they are so dangerous is why the import and export are forbidden."

He said it was ironic that the same device was used in making medical equipment such as the laser apparatus used to crush kidney and gall stones.

Supposed to be for SA hospital

Beeld newspaper's source in the US said the medical use was allegedly how the US manufacturers, Perkin Elmer Opto-electricians and Giza Technologies, had been persuaded to export the switches to South Africa.

They were imported on the pretext that they were for Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg.

The law prescribes a maximum sentence of 15 years, with or without a fine, for the illegal import and export of the switches.

The source said: "Sketo's appearance follows the trial of her former employer, Ashir Karni, an Israeli citizen, who already has been sentenced in the US to three years' imprisonment for allowing the switches to be sent from America to South Africa.

He has been released since then and has returned to Israel," said the source.

According to testimony in Karni's trial, the switches would never have been provided if Perkin and Giza knew they were destined for Pakistan.

Karni, and allegedly Sketo, exported the switches to a Humayun Khan in Pakistan.

- Beeld