Key figure in Pak nuke trafficking network nabbed

Buhary Syed Abu Tahir was picked up under a security law allowing indefinite detention without trial and taken to a prison camp, three months after police cleared him of breaking any Malaysian laws for arranging for a company controlled by the prime minister's son to make centrifuge parts for Libya's nuclear programmes.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who earlier insisted the police investigation proved there had been no wrongdoing and that Tahir would remain free, personally signed the detention order in his capacity as home minister, government officials told The Associated Press.

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The arrest was not publicly announced. Two senior officials confirmed it but refused to give details.

"He is deemed as a national security threat because of his past activities in this country," one official said on condition of anonymity.

The official said Tahir was arrested Friday and taken to the Kamunting detention camp in northern Malaysia, where security suspects are held, including about 100 alleged Islamic militants. Tahir's arrest is believed to be the only detention of a senior operative of Khan's network since he admitted in February to selling know-how and secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf pardoned Khan after he made a public apology.

But the use of the security law to arrest Tahir means he is unlikely to face charges in open court.

International investigators say Khan's network operated on five continents and was able to exploit loopholes in international non-proliferation treaties to provide what International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei called a "nuclear supermarket."