This is exactly the sort of thing I like to hear about
Black Market Nuke Trade
U.S. Knew of Pakistan Nuclear Dealings for at Least Seven Years
By Brian Ross
ABCNEWS.com
March 4— The United States had knowledge of a network of black market nuclear proliferation from Pakistan to countries accused of supporting terrorists for at least seven years before it was publicly exposed, ABCNEWS has learned.
What U.S., British and U.N. investigators found was that a company in Pakistan was prepared to sell everything needed to make a nuclear bomb — plans, equipment and fuel — for $50 million, with no questions asked about how it might be used.
The one-stop nuclear package was even advertised at a Pakistani arms show in 2000, where the company handed out brochures to visitors, including a reporter for Jane's Defense Weekly.
"[The company] gave out two very glossy brochures, inside of which they promised to provide all of the components needed for a uranium-enrichment facility," reporter Andrew Koch said.
Behind it all: the now-infamous Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, who confessed last month to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. Investigators say he made millions running the operation.
"I think that now we have to confront the reality that there's a nuclear black market, a Wal-Mart, in effect, of nuclear smuggling and it covers four continents, a dozen countries, lots of inventive behavior," said Graham Allison, director of Harvard University's Center for Science and International Affairs.
