Germany Links 75% of World Illegal Arms Trade to Iran

Stop Fundamentalism – The German Bureau of Customs says that Iran is linked to over 75 percent of the illegal weapons trade in the world.  Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Arabic language newspaper reported Sunday from the German agency that Iranian regime is quite aggressive in its efforts to acquire materials and techniques for its weapons business.

The data revealed by Germany’s Bureau of Customs says that there has been a significant increase in the smuggling of arms and ammunitions by Iran to other countries.  The agency is the responsible body in Germany to combat smuggling.

The number of illegal trade operation last year that have been detected by the agency reached 136 which is up by 35 counts from 2011.

The agency also emphasizes on aggressive efforts by the Iranian regime to steal technical know-how on producing of nuclear weapons, biological and chemical weapons and also missile technology able to carry a nuclear warhead.

The agency says that an Iranian owned shell company by the name of Tmuehi purchased goods with dual applications.  German customs officials in Hamburg are currently investigating a trade company involved in smuggling of Aluminum rods and steel plates through Switzerland to Iranian companies linked to its nuclear weapons program.

The German and Turkish security forces recently arrested 7 suspects on the charges of smuggling nuclear equipment to Iran.  They were arrested in simultaneous raids in the two countries.  The network’s objective was to illegally acquire materials used in nuclear reactors using 5 shell companies purchasing materials from India and Germany.  But the Turkish police says that the two main suspects in the case managed to escape to Iran a few hours before the operation started.  The network is said to have been operating since 2010 and had allegedly coordinated 800 smuggling operations sending equipments from India and also  one hundred illegal shipments of nuclear materials from Germany to Iran.