'Pak scientist sold nuke centrifuge parts to Iran'

Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, named by the United States as a middleman in an international nuclear trafficking ring run by Khan, said the scientist asked him to send centrifuges from Pakistan to Iran in 1994 or 1995, according to police.

Tahir also said Khan told him that a "certain amount of UF6 (enriched uranium) was sent by air from Pakistan to Libya" around 2001, according to police.

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The revelations were made in a detailed 12-page police report on their investigations into Malaysia's alleged link in the nuclear weapons black market and the role of the Sri Lankan businessman, who is now in Malaysia.

The probe was launched after US and British intelligence services told Malaysia that centrifuge parts manufactured by a local company had been found on a ship bound for Libya last October.

The Malaysian company, Scomi Precision Engineering (SCOPE), admitted making the parts but said it did not know their final destination and believed they were for the oil and gas industries.

The company is owned by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son Kamaluddin, and Malaysia has strenuously denied that either the company or the country was knowingly involved in the nuclear arms black market.

Abdullah revealed last week, however, that Tahir -- named by US President George W. Bush as Khan's "chief financial officer and money launderer" -- had indeed placed the order for the parts with SCOPE.

The report also names citizens of Germany, Turkey, Britain and Switzerland as allegedly involved in the nuclear black market.