Switzerland on Friday freed the last of three engineers believed to have aided a nuclear smuggling ring once run by former top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Jan. 23).
Marco Tinner was detained without charges for more than three years before he was released on bail, officials said. Concerns that he might still be able to obtain sensitive information led authorities to hold him more than a month longer than his brother Urs. Their father Friedrich was released in 2006.
The three men remain under investigation for allegedly providing Iran and Libya with nuclear technology in violation of Swiss trade law.
“The release of the Tinners has no influence on the pretrial investigation,” said Andreas Muller, the case's examining magistrate.
Swiss leaders opted in 2007 to destroy documentation related to the case, a move the country's president said was aimed at preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear secrets. However, U.S. officials said the documents were eliminated to hide evidence of CIA collaboration with the family (William Broad, New York Times, Jan. 24).