US Breaks Up Pakistani Nuke Component Smuggling Operation

The U.S. Justice Department announced this week that five Pakistani nationals have been indicted for their alleged role in a five-year clandestine operation to illegally procure and smuggle U.S.-made technologies for use in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons development program. Between September 2014 and October 2019, the men used a system of front companies located in Pakistan, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Canada operating mostly under the names Business World and Industria. According to the Justice Department, during that five-year period Muhammad Karman Wali of Pakistan, Muhammad Ahsan Wali and Haji Wali Muhammad Sheikh of Canada, Ashrah Khan Muhammad of Hong Kong and Ahmed Waheed of the United Kingdom procured components from 29 U.S. companies for 38 illicit shipments to Pakistan.