Intercepted shipment was key to Libya deal

The interception by British and US intelligence of a shipment of uranium enrichment centrifuges bound for Libya in October appears to have been the decisive step in persuading Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to abandon his nuclear weapons programme.

The disclosure, confirmed by US officials yesterday, came as John Bolton, US under-Secretary of State and a leading Bush administration anti-proliferation hawk, set off for London for talks on how to hold Libya to its promise.

According to the officials, the shipment, aboard a German freighter, originated in a Persian Gulf port, which they would not name. The vessel's owners were alerted and ordered the freighter to divert to an Italian port. There, intelligence operatives discovered the centrifuges, which are equipment for enriching uranium for civil or military nuclear projects. Officials declined to name the country that supplied the centrifuges. One likely suspect is Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons, and which is believed to have provided nuclear equipment to Iran, whose alleged weapons programme is under intense scrutiny.

A preliminary inspection of Libya's nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency concludedthat the weapons programme was at a very early stage. But the US believes Libya's plans were far more advanced.