M A I N   N E W S

N-secret sale suspect grilled

Mumbai, June 13
Central intelligence agencies and the Mumbai police today interrogated for over 15 hours an Indian national suspected to be involved in selling the country’s nuclear secrets to Arab countries.

Akhtar Hussain, 35, was deported from Dubai to Mumbai last night. He was detained by the Mumbai police immediately after he landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in northwest Mumbai.

The Mumbai police detained the businessman after a tip-off from their counterparts in Dubai that he was caught selling Indian nuclear secrets, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Satyapal Singh told reporters here today.

However, further course of action will be taken once the Mumbai police gets the documents in this regard from Dubai. “This process will take at least a day or two. Till then Akhtar will be interrogated by the police.”

The Mumbai police, meanwhile, is trying to open up an official channel of communication with the Dubai police to know more about Akhtar.

Akhtar is still in the immigration hold area of the Mumbai airport and has not yet been placed under arrest. He was grilled for more than 15 hours, among others, by sleuths of the Intelligence Bureau.

Akhtar had been on the watchlist of intelligence agencies for some time, police sources said.

Reports said his brother, who is either named Dr Ahmed Hussain or Dr Abid Hussain, was working with a nuclear research establishment of the country.

Meanwhile, the Department of Atomic Energy has beefed up its security and intelligence network in the wake of this report.

A senior official of the department said one of the security teams had already visited the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay here to gather more details.

Dubai: Akhtar made his first attempt to sell Indian nuclear secrets in the 1990s and had tried to contact the UAE Ambassador to India for the purpose.

This was stated by the Dubai police chief, Lt-Gen Dhahi Khalfam Tamim, at a press conference on Saturday while announcing the arrest of the Dubai-based Indian businessman, who owned a general trading shop.

General Tamim said Akhtar made his first attempt in the early 90s and was continuously put under strict surveillance, which, however, was stepped up in recent years as he intensified his contacts from time-to-time with a number of embassies in the UAE.

He said Akhtar took advantage of his brother, who, he claimed, was a scientist with an Indian atomic energy concern, to promote his efforts. A lecture was arranged for his brother at a UAE university, which was attended by a number of students and officials.

The police chief claimed that after his arrest, Akhtar confessed to his attempts to sell nuclear secrets.

UAE media quoted General Tamim as saying that Akhtar tried to contact the UAE Ambassador to India in a bid to sell nuclear secrets, but the Ambassador informed the authorities concerned and consequently the businessman was put under surveillance.

Failing to attract the attention of UAE officials, Akhtar tried to contact a number of diplomatic missions of some “brotherly” countries, offering to sell them nuclear secrets, but these countries reported the matter to the authorities concerned. — UNI, PTI