Ex-Los Alamos Scientist, Wife Indicted in Alleged Atomic Weapon Conspiracy
Published September 17, 2010
FoxNews.com
WASHINGTON -- A scientist and his wife who both once worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory before becoming outspoken critics were arrested Friday after an FBI sting operation and charged with trying to sell nuclear secrets to Venezuela.
The scientist, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, is being detained until a hearing Monday morning in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His wife, Roxby Mascheroni, was released on a variety of conditions, including a monitor attached to her.
The investigation first drew attention last October when federal agents reportedly seized six computers, two cameras, two cellphones and hundreds of files from the scientist, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni.
Mascheroni declared his innocence to The New York Times last year, saying, "If I were a real spy, I would have left the country a long time ago."
After their arrest Friday morning, the two appeared in federal court in Albuquerque, New Mexico and were accused of dealing with an FBI undercover agent posing as a Venezuelan agent. The government did not allege that Venezuela or anyone working for it sought U.S. secrets.
The pair were indicted for allegedly communicating classified nuclear weapons data to a person they believed to be a Venezuelan government official.
Accused in a 22-count indictment are Mascheroni, 75, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina, and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 67, a U.S. citizen. Both were formerly contract employees at Los Alamos.
According to the indictment, Mascheroni told an undercover agent he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb within 10 years and that under his program, Venezuela would use a secret, underground nuclear reactor to produce and enrich plutonium, and an open, aboveground reactor to produce nuclear energy.
Read the rest here.
Our Own Private Iran: Nukes on our Southern border. Nothing like re-living the 60's.
Showing posts with label Morrocan espionage affair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Morrocan espionage affair. Show all posts
Friday, September 17, 2010
Sunday, September 21, 2008
’Moroccan Secret Service Recruits Dutch MPs’
NIS NEWS BULLETIN: AMSTERDAM - MPs and local council members of Moroccan origin are routinely approached by the Moroccan secret service to defend the interests of Morocco. So says Fouad el Haji, a Labour (PvdA) council member in Rotterdam. The Lower House is shocked and has demanded an explanation from the cabinet.
El Haji said on n [sic] TV programme Pauw&Witteman that Moroccan-Dutch MPs, local politicians, entrepreneurs and police officers are enticed by the Moroccan secret service to serve the interests of Morocco. Rabat wants to bind them to it financially, culturally and politically, he stated.
El Haji suggested that within the PvdA, Socialist Party (SP) and leftwing Greens (GroenLinks), there are polticians who have taken up the offer and thus work for the secret service. He suggested one or several MPs or ex-MPs are among them. But he declined to name any names.
El Haji said he himself was also approached. "It is a pattern," he explained. "You are invited to gala parties and treated with all attentions. Before you know it, you are on a plane to Morocco. When you visit Morocco, you are even more cosseted."
'Ordinary' Moroccans are also targeted, El Haji continued. For example, they are urged to use their savings to buy a second house in Morocco. The integration process is thereby deliberately frustrated, according to El Haji.
This week, TV programme NOVA revealed that a Rotterdam policeman, Re Lemhaouli, was a spy for the Moroccan secret service. This was discovered last spring, but hushed up by the Dutch authorities, according to NOVA. Now that the case has come out in the open, the criminal investigation service has launched an investigation after all.
At the request of the Christian democrats (CDA), the House will hold an emergency debate on the question next week. The cabinet will send a letter ahead of this. If El Haji's allegations are true, this is "extremely serious," said CDA MP Sybrand van Haersma Buma yesterday.
Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders wants the cabinet to go into El Haij's suggestion that one or more MPs have or have had contacts with the secret service. GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema said any pressure on Moroccan Dutch is "unacceptable."
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said he had spoken with the Moroccan authorities about the Lemhaouli question. As a result of that conversation, the Moroccan embassy recalled two diplomats to Rabat, he revealed yesterday. ’Moroccan Secret Service Recruits Dutch MPs’ >>> | September 19, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback – The Netherlands) >>>
El Haji said on n [sic] TV programme Pauw&Witteman that Moroccan-Dutch MPs, local politicians, entrepreneurs and police officers are enticed by the Moroccan secret service to serve the interests of Morocco. Rabat wants to bind them to it financially, culturally and politically, he stated.
El Haji suggested that within the PvdA, Socialist Party (SP) and leftwing Greens (GroenLinks), there are polticians who have taken up the offer and thus work for the secret service. He suggested one or several MPs or ex-MPs are among them. But he declined to name any names.
El Haji said he himself was also approached. "It is a pattern," he explained. "You are invited to gala parties and treated with all attentions. Before you know it, you are on a plane to Morocco. When you visit Morocco, you are even more cosseted."
'Ordinary' Moroccans are also targeted, El Haji continued. For example, they are urged to use their savings to buy a second house in Morocco. The integration process is thereby deliberately frustrated, according to El Haji.
This week, TV programme NOVA revealed that a Rotterdam policeman, Re Lemhaouli, was a spy for the Moroccan secret service. This was discovered last spring, but hushed up by the Dutch authorities, according to NOVA. Now that the case has come out in the open, the criminal investigation service has launched an investigation after all.
At the request of the Christian democrats (CDA), the House will hold an emergency debate on the question next week. The cabinet will send a letter ahead of this. If El Haji's allegations are true, this is "extremely serious," said CDA MP Sybrand van Haersma Buma yesterday.
Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders wants the cabinet to go into El Haij's suggestion that one or more MPs have or have had contacts with the secret service. GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema said any pressure on Moroccan Dutch is "unacceptable."
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said he had spoken with the Moroccan authorities about the Lemhaouli question. As a result of that conversation, the Moroccan embassy recalled two diplomats to Rabat, he revealed yesterday. ’Moroccan Secret Service Recruits Dutch MPs’ >>> | September 19, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback – The Netherlands) >>>
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