AFP: A Canadian court found a Toronto man guilty on Tuesday of attempting to export nuclear-related materials to Iran in violation of sanctions, prosecutors said.
OTTAWA (AFP) — A Canadian court found a Toronto man guilty on Tuesday of attempting to export nuclear-related materials to Iran in violation of sanctions, prosecutors said.
Mahmoud Yadegari, 36, was convicted in the Ontario Court of Justice of nine criminal and customs charges for attempting last year to ship pressure transducers to Iran via Dubai, said the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
The items, manufactured in the United States, can be used in nuclear power plants but are also required to produce nuclear weapons. They are subject to a UN embargo on nuclear exports to Iran and are on Canada’s export control list.
Yadegari was arrested in April 2009 for failing to obtain required permits to export the so-called “dual use” items the month before.
He faces up to a maximum of 10 years in prison and fines of up to 500,000 dollars for each infraction. He was, however, acquitted of one count of forgery.
Yadegari is to be sentenced on July 29.
In October 2009, a senior Canadian customs official warned that Iran was attempting to acquire clandestine shipments via Canada for its nuclear program after authorities seized everything from centrifuge parts to programmable logic controllers being shipped to the Middle East nation through third countries.
Cases involved entrepreneurs and state-sponsored cells, said the Canada Border Services Agency.
Microchips identified as possible “navigational chips” from the United States, Denmark and Japan were marked as headed for the United Arab Emirates, but officials suspected the end destination was Iran.
In another case, high pressure pipes from Texas were originally suspected of containing Mexican drugs, but turned out to be for nuclear use in Iran.
