Der Spiegel reports that Swedish authorities and the CIA are investigating the possibility that a Swedish technology company has been secretly and illegally supplying nuclear capabilities to Syria.
Between 1999 and 2002, a now closed Swedish nuclear facility, "Ranstad Mineral" had been importing radioactive waste from the German Hanau nuclear plant for reprocessing in order to extract uranium. Technicians had been sent from Syria to train on the project. During this period, a few grams of plutonium that originated from the German plant mysteriously disappeared from Ranstad Mineral's inventory [some of this had apparently been illegally dumped but questions remain].
Meanwhile, the Swedish company "Meab" has built a plant in the Syrian city of Homs, publicly described as a "fertilizer factory", but which is suspected by western intelligence of being a center of WMD development. One red-flag: the "fertilizer factory" is operated by the Syrian Atomic Energy Commission, (SAEC). Another red flag: the "fertilizer factory" is said to be similar in construction to the Ranstad Mineral uranium extraction facility.
Meab's chief executive, Dr. Hans Reinhardt, claims his company's only connection to Syria really does involve fertilizer and/or the "food industry" and that he doesn't know what "SAEC" stands for. This stretches credulity, as this page on Meab's website would suggest.
UPDATE: The Der Spiegel article was largely sourced from the following two articles from the Stockholm daily Expressen: here and here. Mårten Barck has a translation of one here and quotes the other (see Watch, Feb. 28).
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 28, 2004 09:30 AM