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WMD suspect 'freed'
08/09/2004 14:29 - (SA)
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| Johan Meyer. (File Photo, Shayne Robinson, SAPA) |
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Vanderbijlpark - Charges have been withdrawn against a man arrested in Vanderbijlpark under laws governing the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, a court official told Sapa.
"The State informed me that charges were being withdrawn. I was not given a reason," he said.
The charges were withdrawn during Johan Meyer's second court appearance at about 11:00 on Wednesday.
In Meyer's first appearance the court was told that his bail application was withdrawn and he was later whisked away, supposedly to prison until his next appearance on October 11.
The official told Sapa that Meyer was "a free man".
His attorney Heinrich Badenhorst said he could not comment on the withdrawal of the charges. Three charges
Meyer was arrested last week and 11 shipping containers containing components of a centrifuge uranium plant and related documentation were seized from his factory premises in the town's industrial zone.
He faced three charges under South Africa's Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and the Nuclear Energy Act as part of an international investigation which includes the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Khan 'network'
A statement on Tuesday from South Africa's Council for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons said the investigation was "in the context" of the AQ Khan "network"
Abdul Khan was a leading figure in Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, and was involved in the final test detonation of Pakistan's first nuclear bomb.
In 2001 he lost his position on the orders of President Pervez Musharraf, and has since reportedly claimed that he was privately supplying components to produce nuclear weapons to Libya, Iran and North Korea.
Council chair Abdul Minty said the items confiscated did not "constitute a weapon of mass destruction, but they are essential components in the process to enrich uranium".
- SAPA
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