Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 29, 1990                   TAG: 9003290671
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Medium

NUCLEAR DEVICES CONFISCATED/ 3 HELD; IRAQ DENIES INVOLVEMENT

British authorities also said they were investigating the alleged smuggling of naval equipment to Iraq, but they released few details about the probe.

Iraq today denied any involvement in the alleged attempt to smuggle the U.S.-made nuclear devices.

President Saddam Hussein of Iraq also told a rally in Baghdad today that enemies of the Arabs were trying to hinder Iraq's "march of progress."

The two men and a woman who appeared in Uxbridge Magistrates Court in west London today were arrested Wednesday following an 18-month investigation by U.S. and British authorities in which American companies cooperated.

Britain's Customs and Excise Department identified the three as Lebanese engineer Toufic Fouad Amyuni, 37; Ali Ashour Daghir, 49, a company director with dual Iraqi and British nationality; and export executive Jeanine Celestine Speckman, 41, a French citizen. All gave addresses in or near London.

They were charged with being involved in the attempted export of 40 electrical capacitors with intent to evade the Export of Goods Control Order 1989. Amyuni and Daghir were remanded in custody until a hearing April 5, while Speckman was granted bail. She is to appear in court May 10.

British customs officials said the devices were seized Wednesday in a freight shed at London's Heathrow airport as they were about to be put on an Iraqi Airways flight to Baghdad.

Some news reports said that fake devices had been substituted for the real ones before customs officials moved in to make the arrests.

Customs officials in London, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the capacitors are electrical components used in the detonation of a nuclear bomb.

Hussein, in his speech marking Palestinian Land Day, did not refer directly to nuclear technology or nuclear weapons, but he attacked unidentified anti-Arab forces he said were holding back Iraq's "march of progress."

Lately, Iraq has developed long-range missiles thought to be capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.

"The fires are intensifying, whether by aggressions or conspiracies, but the Iraqi people will not be worn down," Hussein said.

British Charge d'Affaires Robert Kealy was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Baghdad and told by Deputy Foreign Minister Nizar Hamdoun that Iraq reserves the right to acquire advanced technology from other countries.

The Iraqi News Agency, which reported the meeting, also quoted Hamdoun as criticizing what he called a British campaign against the "so-called Iraqi nuclear program."

"The current British campaign is trying to provide the groundwork for an Israeli aggression on Iraq, reminding us of the year 1981," when Israeli jets bombed an Iraqi nuclear plant.

An unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman also said in a statement carried by INA that Iraq has the right to take measures based on the principle of reciprocity. It did not elaborate.

Relations between Iraq and Britain have been strained since Iraq's execution March 15 of Farzad Bazoft, an Iranian reporter who was working for a British newspaper. Iraq accused Bazoft of spying. Britain reacted by withdrawing its ambassador from Iraq, but it has shown reluctance to let relations with Baghdad worsen further.

Military experts said the capacitors are available only to a handful of major powers and their export is strictly controlled. They recalled two previous smuggling attempts, one involving Israel and the other Pakistan, both believed to have or to be trying to develop nuclear weapons.