Nuclear trafficking similar to disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's smuggling ring is continuing, according to Jane's Defence Weekly. Portions of Khan's network appear to be intact and include individuals more senior in hierarchy than previously believed, Pakistani media said, quoting the British publication.
Officials involved in investigating the network's activities said it now appears that parts of the organisation are yet to be uncovered, the report said.
The officials were part of dozens of interviews that Jane's conducted on four continents during the past year with people having first-hand knowledge of the issue. It also spoke to some of Khan's associates who have been prosecuted or are under investigation.
'The argument that some senior people in the network are still at large runs counter to the officially stated position of the US and other important players, and remains highly controversial', the report said. 'Yet several officials have said that this dissenting view is gaining support and is given credibility by the fact that the Khan network was run as more of a decentralised white-collar criminal group than a top-down organisation solely under the direction of one person'.
Such a decentralised structure could well have allowed participants in the network to continue operating and clues uncovered during recent investigations support this contention, the Daily Times said, quoting the report.
According to the report, the fact that Iranian agents and some Pakistani ones have attempted numerous illicit nuclear- related purchases since 2003 suggests that a reconfiguration of suppliers is occurring and atomic goods continue to be available for those with the means and desire to buy them.
'While these new suppliers cannot provide the one-stop shop that Khan offered, and are insufficient by themselves for moving a nuclear weapons program very far forward, they point to the likelihood that some tentacles of the network have yet to be discovered', the report said.
Jane's said Germany recently halted or investigated a number of deals involving basic nuclear-related materials and dual-use goods, although these did not involve complete centrifuge designs, machines or drawings as Khan had supplied.
These activities, driven by the continued demand and the active procurement efforts of at least Iran and Pakistan, include some people and companies that once supplied Khan's enterprise, the report said. But they also include new or different nuclear technology brokers, many of whom use the same or similar methods as Khan's middlemen to evade international export controls.
Jane's quoted German, EU and US officials as saying that Iran has built an equivalent, if not larger, network than Khan's to supply prohibited goods for its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
The report claimed that Tehran has principally been seeking material from European and Russian firms and has included some of Khan's middlemen in the process. In doing so, Iran's new network is exploiting many of the same weaknesses and loopholes of the system that Khan's associates used, it added.