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Friday, August 25, 2006
Japanese executive accused of nuclear-related exports
TOKYO -- Japanese police arrested the president of a precision instrument maker over the alleged export to Malaysia of goods that can be used in making nuclear weapons, news reports said today.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Mitutoyo Corp. President Kazusaku Tezuka, along with five other company executives and employees, on suspicion of violating foreign trade control laws.
Mitutoyo is suspected of illegally exporting two three-dimensional measuring devices that can be converted for use in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Police officials declined to immediately comment. Phone calls to Mitutoyo reached an answering machine message saying the company was not open for business today.
Mitutoyo, based just outside of Tokyo, had already been under fire for its alleged exports of such instruments without a license.
Police raided the company in February over suspicions that it exported machines to Japanese companies in China and Thailand in 2001 without seeking government permission as required, media reports said.
High-tech versions of the machines can measure centrifuges used in uranium enrichment.
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