Suspected Nukes Dealer Indicted

A German man was indicted Friday on charges of helping Libya develop uranium enrichment equipment that could be used to produce nuclear weapons, prosecutors in this southern city said. The 61-year-old, who was extradited from Switzerland Thursday, is suspected of breaking German laws on international trade and defense material exports. He was arrested last November in Switzerland on an international warrant issued for his alleged role in helping Libya build centrifuges to enrich uranium as part of a nuclear weapons program between 2001 and 2003. Prosecutors suspect him of participating in an international network launched in the 1990s and based primarily in Dubai that dealt illegally in high technology. Other suspects include an expert in vacuum technology who has been extradited to Switzerland as well as a German businessman living in South Africa. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has said his nation has renounced weapons of mass destruction and that he aims to develop a nuclear program strictly for civilian use.