Two in court on weapons charges

By Jenni Evans and Graeme Hosken

Johannesburg – TWO more men have been arrested in an international probe into weapons of mass destruction and appeared in court yesterday.

The owner of a Randburg engineering company and one of his engineers appeared in the Vanderbijlpark regional court on charges under the Nuclear Energy Act and the Weapons of Mass Destruction Act.

Gerhard Wisser, 65, and his colleague Daniel Geiges, 66, of Krisch Engineering in Strijdom Park, Randburg, were appearing for the first time since their arrest on Wednesday night.

The two men were not asked to plead and were remanded until a formal bail application on September 14.

Mr Wisser had been arrested in Durban and Mr Geiges in Johannesburg.

Mr Wisser’s lawyer Claudia Privato confirmed that he was the same person taken in for questioning by German authorities last month.

That arrest was in connection with his alleged role as the middleman in the sale of nuclear equipment between a South African engineering company and an African nuclear facility.

Mr Geiges’s attorney Kevin Cross said his client was in “complete shock” and would be fighting the charges “tooth and nail”.

Neither attorney said they knew the finer details of the charges. Mr Wisser’s and Mr Geiges’s arrests come after charges were unexpectedly withdrawn against Vanderbijlpark engineer Johan Meyer on Wednesday.

Mr Meyer was arrested last week on three charges under the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act and the Nuclear Energy Act. Eleven sealed containers of equipment were taken from his premises to Pelindaba.

Earlier, employees at Krisch Engineering said police had removed files and a computer from the premises.

Hours before Wednesday’s arrest, police in the US, Germany, Britain, Libya and Pakistan swooped on several businesses, seizing hundreds of documents and computers in the various countries.

The confiscated items are believed to contain vital information in relation to the nuclear blackmarket network allegedly run by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Dr Khan’s network is believed to be responsible for supplying materials used in the illegal manufacturing of nuclear devices, including weapons, for rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea.

Neither the National Prosecuting Authority nor the SAPS would comment on why the charges against Mr Meyer were withdrawn. His lawyer, Heinrich Badenhorst, has refused to return telephone calls. It is believed that Mr Meyer has turned State witness.

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