Germany and Turkey arrested seven suspected Iranian smugglers who were transporting materials for that country’s nuclear program from India and Germany,
according to a UPI report about an article in the Turkish Haberturk
newspaper.
The components were to be delivered to the Iranian nuclear
facility in Arak, Iran.
According to the report, Turkey apprehended two
of the suspects at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. One was an Iranian with Turkish
citizenship and the other was an Iranian, who was suspected of being one of
the leaders of the operation.
Security officials also captured a trove
of documents related to the operation.
Germany arrested five Iranians,
according to the report.
All together it is estimated that the smugglers
shipped 900 deliveries of nuclear material to Iran using front companies in
Turkey. The search continues for others suspects.
This follows a report
in February by The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS)
that Iran was trying to smuggle magnet components for its nuclear program from
China.