Another jail weekend for WMD 2
2004-09-22 18:03
Vanderbijlpark - The bail application of two Randburg engineers arrested for allegedly possessing equipment that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction was adjourned until Tuesday for judgment in Vanderbijlpark regional court.
Gerhard Wisser, managing director of Krisch Engineering, and Daniel Geiges, a director, have been in custody since their arrest on September 7 on four charges under the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and the Nuclear Energy Act.
The charges relate to a lathe, a centrifuge and piping that could be used to enrich uranium, which is used in nuclear weapons.
They were aarrested shortly after similar charges were withdrawn against Johan Meyer, an engineer from Vanderbijlpark.
After his arrest, authorities seized 11 containers of equipment at the firm where Meyer was a director.
At the time of the arrests, the Council for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons - a South African statutory body - said the action was part of an international investigation into a nuclear components trafficking network.
The network was linked to Libya's now abandoned nuclear weapons programme.
The council said the network was also linked with AQ Khan - formerly a leading figure in Pakistan's nuclear bomb programme.
- SAPA