PAKISTANI IN U.S. SOUGHT TO SHIP A-BOMB TRIGGER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402820043-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 26, 2012
• Sequence Number: 43
• Publication Date: February 25, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT _.... 1
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crating under cover, had been moNtor-
~ his activities since OcEober 1983,
when he first placed the order for the
devices.
When they made the arrest, the Fed-
eral offidals involved later recalled,
they were convinced that they were
dealing with a loreiga agent.
A! that time Customs agents seized a.
I series of letters directly linking Mr.
Void to S. A. Butt, who was identified
!,Pakistani in U. S. Sough t
Houston. Customs Service agents, op-' Lion Acf it the prosecutors had chosen I ~~ he had made as _ a Pakistani
vices whose main function is to trigger court documents and interviews with Justice Department and Customs of-
nuclear bombs according to court his lawyers, Federal prosecutors and ficials in Houston, presented later with
documents and Federal offidals. ~ offidals in the State Department, Cus- evidence of Mr. Vald's link to Mr. $utt,
A Pakistani agent, Nazar Ahmed ~~ Service and Justice Department. aclmowledged that they .had over-
If the Federal prosecutors had made rooked the significance of the materials
Vaid, a 33-year-old from Lahore, was the link between Mr. Vaid and the Pa- ~ their possession.
seized last June by Federal agents kistani Government, Mr. Vaid could Photocopies of at least three :letters
while he was trying to smuggle b0 0! the -were f ound yin Mr. Vaid's briefcase on
devices. known as Energy AM or the ed under the Atomic ; the day of his arrest. They detailed pur-.
krytrona; out of Export Administra- .
1 To Ship ~ -Bomb ?'rid'er
13y SE1tMOUR M. HER9H '
sp~cttl m 'ttw N.w Yort TYmr
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -The Gov-
ernment of Pakistan operated inside ; program are entirely peaceful." ~ Materiels' Significance
to the UNted States, denied that Mr. 'the judge declared in court, according ..have done a lot of time in the peniten-
Vaid had any of8dal connection to the ~ to the transcript of the proceedings - ti~'? We fully expected that, and I can
Pakistani Government. , '; merely a.businessman "trying to expo- still see no reason that it hasn't been
done.
Istan Atomic Energy Commission. At his sentendng on Oct. Z2, 1984, in ~ .You've sees the case that th
ey got here.
United States District Court in Hous- You've seen what's "
Savoy Denies Aqy Connection ton, the Federal ,prosecutor agreed goth8 on here.
Referring rto Mr. Void, he added:
Ejaz Azim, Pakistan's Ambassador' with Judge .James DeAnda that Mr. ~ .'There's no reason that he shouldn't
Void was not a foreign agent but - as
operative in Pakistan's successful at? 9.The original indictmentof Iyir. Void
tempts in Europe in the 1970's to obtain was rewritten, at the requestbf his at-
the technology and rYSOUrces for the torney, to exclude any mention of the
enrichment of uranium and the reproa possible nuclear use of a krytron. .
easing o1 plutonium.... QMr. Void finally was permitted to
There is no indication, however, that i plea-bargain to a reduced d~arge, cut-
theCustoms agents who didthe investi- , ~ his potential sentence from 1Z
gation and the Federal prosecutors ~ - ~~~ to two and also avoiding a public
who tried Mr. Void ever identified Mr. ' ~; Vaid was found guilty of one
Butt or understood that h'Ir. Void's let- i count of violating American export
tars provided evidence that he was op- ; law, given the mildest sentence possi-
eratiag at the direct behest of the Palo- ble and deported within three weeks.
NEW YORK TIMES
25 February, 1985
The account of Mr. Vaid's activities Overlooked by OfficiAls
20-year prison term if the restricted "n"e? gazes vn oenatr yr mr. sun.
goods to be exported ccuuld be used to Mr. Vaid's letters made no attempt
the national security advantage of a to shield Mr. Butt's title, and they were
the Federal prosecutors in HOUSton "'~ r+wmic t.nergy ~ommrssron.
agreed with~Mr. Void's attorneys to a Mr'? Vaid, who was interviewed three'
series of procedural steps that had the times between his sentendng and his ~
effect -whether intended or not - of, .. deportation, repeatedly asserted that
reducing publidty about the case and? he was an innocent Pakistani exporter
of limiting the jail sentence Laced by doing business in the United States with
Mr. Void. The actions indudedthese: a branch office in Houston. He said, as
went for the Government-run Pakistan 4A gag order was approved fiy the ~ he bad told Federal offidals, that hr
Atamlc Energy Commission. Mr. Butt Federal judge in the case barring all of had purchased the krytrons for univer-
is widely known to American and Euro- the.partidpants from any public com- sity research in Pakistan.
meet. No Houston news organization Perhaps to buttress his' aasertians of
pear arms-control offidals as the key p~ested the order. - innocence, Mr.. Void _agreed when
absolutely nothing to do with this indi-' e~?
vidual," Mr. Azim said. "He's a pri? `
vale trader, and that is a1I we know
afoul him. He acts and opera?es en-
tirely in his individual capadty as a
private businessman of Pakistan."
The Ambassador, in an interview,
also repeated his Government's posi-
tion that it "is not engaged in the pro-
duction of the nuclear weapon," add-
ing, "i'he dimensions of our nuclear
"The Government of Pakistan has ~ to what he thought was, a? business State
Department oftidals in Wash-
ingtoa, while reluctant to be inter-
. viewed on the record, conceded that-
serious errors had been made at bothi
the departments of State and Justice in
connection with the case. But they as-
serted that the bungling was just that,
and nothing more.
"I know this has all the makings of a
pressed to waive the attorney-client
privllege. As.a result, his two immigra-
tion attorneys in Houston, Peter Wil-
liamson and Spencer Gardner, ex-';
pressing outrage aver the Govern-
ment's handling of their dieat's case,
took the unusai step of making avail-:
able to a reporter the.documeats link-'
lag Mr. Void to the Pakistan Atomic
Energy Commission.
Mr. Williamson adaiowledged that
his actions were highly unusual but
said in an interview: "Listen, I watrt',
Cc,.;ir~~r;~
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- a.
grams i uc, n o ua~c aicya. uuw,~ ~aai~.tat +?~~ ???-. _ "' + -_ "-"~ "-'-? !_ 30CUmenLS, E G& G received 8 tele-
said, "but it's really a petty screw-up." oil exploration and high-energy lasers,
for example, but their most essential Phone call from Mr. Void, who again
Pakistan Has Denied function -and the reason their aver- Sought to place the order. He was told
seas sale is carefully licensed and the order would not be filled.untji the
Assembling Nuclear Bombs monitored - is to trigger .atomic licensing ~~~ had been met.
bombs. The tiny switches are able to , Mr. Void they turned tD a neighbor.
Complicating the Vaid case is Palo- deliver a predse amount of electrical Hood electrical supply store in Houston,
Stan's position as a redpient of xi.2 bil? cur.trnt in ~ little as one-millionth of a: ~~~? Its owners. Jerry and Don
lion in American aid over six years second. timing that is essential to nu- iimon, said in an interview that Mr.
ending in 1987. dear explosions. Void appeared in their shop on Oct. 31
Pakistan has said it has not assem- ` and placed the order for the krytron
bled any nuclear bombs, although it as ~ All overseas sales of 1Qytrons are ?ubes, describing them only by their
knowledges it has the means to do so. ~ ~~Y monitored by 'the Federal !fisting, KN-Z'l, in E G& G's commerdal
Tire Reagan Administration has as ~ Government through its licensing catalogue.
cepted Pakistan's public statements on Provisions. Each sale is reviewed by Jerry Simon recalled that E G& G of-
nuclear capability at face value. Ad- I ~ State Department on a case~by-~ fldals wanted to know over the Lela ,
ministration officials have said more case basis to insure, offidals said. that ?hone whether the krytrons, which cost i
can be accomplished with quiet diplo- the few 1Qytmns sough for commeri- ;total of =3,950, were intended for ex-
macy than with public confrontations ~ use are not diverted. A proposed port. Mr. Simon said that he had asked
over Pakistan's nudear polides. sale of 50 krytrons would have been ex- yU.? Vaid; who was in the store at the
American intelligence offidals ri-~ I ~o~~'~ offidals said, :and pro- tithe, and lied been .told ao. E G& G,
vote con at aT s now vided the Government with immediate now acdveJy ~rn~8 with the ~-
eno enn um justification for an extensive review. totes Bureau, agreed to ship the order.
re rocess u um to man acture ' ?A is not the -only electronic
nu ear wen ons, a concern amo switch that can trigger a nudear bomb, Brothers'Co~perate - _
inielli cote ofd an mem ers o but it is described by experts as?highly - . ,
onaress a ut a case t sophisticated and reliable. With UndercoverA~ents?
Pakistan, too ~~ ~ Three tnanths later, undercover Ctts-
m sms or nu ear om~s ma -How Case Develo ed
ve mov to a new is nu- P _.. _ toms agestt~~ approached. the Simon
clear program - sto With Placing of Order . ~ brothers an71 asked !or their'co~opera-
Tn~tate epartment o ?cial who! - Lion. r :.
was directly involved in the case con- ~ ~ . The Vaid case, which is the sub ject of Over the next few months, ? the
ceded that the Pakistani leader, Gen? I a coming PBS documentary, begins on. Simons would meet as many as 12
eral Mohammad Zia W-Haq, would I ~? 18, 1983, in Salem, Mass., site of times with the undercover agents as ~~
inevitably draw the wrong conclusion ; the Eleetro-Optics division of E G~ G, they waited for Mr: Void to claim his
fmm the lax handling of Mr. Vail. a Fortune 500 company that. has been shipment of krytroas. Under the export
"If the .Administration had any con-' intimately involved in American nu =laws, only when be tried to forward the
tern, it was that the case in Texas dear bomb production and Planning krytrons through customs would the
would come off the way it did, and we'd ' since the end of World War 1;I.- Government have the legal right to
Look weak-kneed;" he said; alluding ta' Mr. Void, dressed in traditional Pa- make an arrest. J
monitoring of Pakistaa's~ nuclear pro- kistaai garb, showed up Yn person at Thekrytroas were to be delivered, by
gi?a~-n, Salem and, according to,'oourt docu- Mr. Void's instrvctioas, to a Houton
In retrospect. he said, there were I meets, Placed an order for 50 krytrons.. P~~'PYing ~P gated by a dis-
three arras of failure, not including the' Company offidals were stunned, as tent relative of the Pakistani's whowas
failure of the im~estigatora to under- Robert B. Stitt, an E G& G division assodated With ~ export-import cwm-
stand the significance of the Void ' manager recalled in _ azl? interview: ~nY'
Papers: One part a lack of sophistica- '~ There had nerves been an attempted Tbe delivery took place on April 16,
tion in Houston; one part a lack of vigor '. over-the-counter purchase of krytrons. ~~ an ~ereos'~ ~O~ agent,
in the State Department, where the in the tom 's histo P~~ as an ~lectrotex employee.
case never got high-level attention, and PAY ry' tu=ned over the lQytroas to an aide to
one part a poor dedsioat by Justice to . Mr. Void said he had identified him? Mr. Vail.
permit a plea bargain."self as being in the Import-export buss- The Houston photocopying shop was
A faction in Congress, headed by Hess in Pakistan and in Houston: He es- placed under 2!-hour surveillaaoe, the
Senator Alan Cranston of California, Plained, Mr. Stitt said. that he was buy- undercover customs agents said.
' the Democratic minority whip, has ing the krytrons on behalf of a univer- On June 19, Mr. Void arrived in
been increasingly critical of Pakistan's sity in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital. Houston on a flight from Pakistan, and
reported efforts t0 become a nuclear When company offidals explained ~'o days later he notified the freight-
`power, that an export license would be needed. forwarding compatry that he used; Air
' for the legal shipment ofk;ytmns,~Mr. ~P~ International at Houston's In-
Vaid asked that E G& G take care of it, ternational Airport, that he would be
De~~ices Manufactured ~, Stitt said. The company informed exporttnggOOdStOPaktstanonJune2Z.
B Onl One Coal an the Federal Bureau of Investigation in The shipment's bill of lading said the,
Y Y P Y ' shipment contained office goods, ~ii%
Washington about' the pending pur-
'
onky
Rnytroas are manufactured by an1Y chase and it in turn brought in the Cus- ' eluding what Mr. Void describec#
one company in the bvorld, E G& G toms Bureau, which has jurisdiction in ; as "50 bulbs/switdies."
Inc., of Wellesley, .Mass., a leading illegal foreign commerce.. The final step was routi~ A driver
military contractor. and cannot be ex? -- ~ for Air Express International picked
Ported without State Department up the package at the,photocopy shop,
licensing. sealed for forwarding through cass-
toms, and delivered it to the airport.
Customs agents seized it there and
found the krytrons. Mr. Void was ar-
rested and charged, along with two as-
sociates in the photocopying shop, with '
~ illegal export, conspiracy and false
' statements. .
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Officials Convinced - '
He Was Pakistani Agent
,-
The Government prosecutors said
they were convinced ',that they -were
dealing with a Pakistani agent.
At a court hearing' on June 28 to
determine Mr. Void's bond, Assistant
United States Attorney Samuel G. Lon-
goria, an experienced prosecutor who
was assigned the case, fold a Federa~
magistrate that the krytrons had a di-
rect use in nuclear munitions.
And he added, according to a tran-
~~ script: "We strongly suspect that Mr..
Void is operating at the instance of'the
~ Pakistani Government and that the
~' purpose of the export Of these krytrons.
? lure and direction of Pakistan's nu- + correspondence between,Mr. Void and to ex reco
,. ~ ~ Col. Umar Din Dar who was identified munications Inc., the compatry that
clear Prt~Q-? . I had transmitted Mr. Void's reports to
On July 16, 19$4, a Federal, grand ~ ~ ~ senior eaecuUve officer of the , ~,. Butt a~ Colonel Dar, showing that
jury in Houston indicted Mr. Void and ~ PakistanAtomic Energy Commission. ?, Mr. Void had lmowingiy, violated the
his two assodates from the plwtocopy- The letters did not deal with the kry- export laws and giving direct evidence
ins company -charges against. those .trop sale but showed that Mr. Void had that Mr. Void had purchased the ltry-
two roan were later dropped -for cock `been ~~~ a member of i;hemi= ttnns ~ behalf of the Pakistan Atomic
cnirino to e1,in thn krvtmnc mithntt A N- ~~cals, the sale of which is not regulated, EIIergy Commission.
"They're all important cases that we
work down here. It's a felo~+ case, but
the.evidence was not thereto support a
theory, which I? personauy l;'spoused
early on, that this person vas a spy or
an agent of the Pakistani Government.
That evidence simply was not there." i
The prosecutors said they had con- !
ducted their negotiations with Mr.
Burge, Mr. Void's attorney, without
being aware of the evidence directly
linking Mr. Void to the Pakistani Gov-
ernment.
Ia fact, the Government obtained the
letters linking Mr. Void to Pakistani
nuclear officials on June ZZ, the day of
his arrest. ~ .
Customs agents had sailed Sles. and
documents in his possession and, hours
John L. Martin, chief of the internal ~
'ty section, said through a Justic
ent spokesman: "There was
no evidence to think that this was a big
spy case. You're chasing a leprechaun, .
not a big spy."
A State Department'official directly.
involved in the Vaid case conceded in .
retrospect that the Department had
hero too bias about the case.
"The case was handled by Houston
and treated as a nickel-and~iime case i
all along." he said.
There was State Department con-
cern over the last-minute decision by
1VIr. Longoria to agree to a plea bar-
~' thus avoiding a public trial, the
' later, ar?~ed with a search warrant,
ernment's use in obtaining a nuclear ~ official said. But no formal State De-
weapon." _ +had taken a large assortment of hose- partment protest was filed: -^ ,
Mr.. Longoria. added: "The allega- . ness records ,and documents from the ~ 'That issue arose in mid~eptember,
lions in this complaint are not simply ~,ho V ~~ed were letters be. ~ i three months after Mr. Void's arrest
technical violations of United States and on the eve of his trial, when the
export laws. The Department rt State ~~'~ Mr. Void and 1VIr. Butt. dating ;Government successfully subpoenaed
has serious concern regarding the na- back to December 1963. There also was . 1 ~ from RCA Gldbal Com-
"""' ~" " "` .: '"`"' ' mission. -- Mr. Longoria, the United States At-
trons as able to be used as part of a
filing set for a nudear explosive. de- ~ ~ ~~ torney, .and his associates in Houston
Agent Sought ,Buzzwords said they considered the telexes to be
vice." ,
Over the neat weeks,,,as 1Kr. Void's !But Found None-' ffie "smoktmg gun" m the case' since it
criminal attorney William w Burge . j firmlyestablisbed an intent to break
leaded
who had
Void
law b
Mr
th
prosecutors?dropped their .reference
both to nuclear bombs and to 1VIr. '
Void's possible role as an agent of the
Pakistani C,overnment. .
Mr. Burge. interviewed about ',the
case after Mr. Void's deportation, con-
ceded that he was surprised at how .
readily the prosecttors agreed to a re=
writing of the indictment and to a gag ,
order. He conducted, he said, that the ,
Justice Department "went along be- .
cause we are friendly with Pakistan."
He added, "The case, apparently,-
was embarrassing to the Government
of Pakistan, and they didn't want any
more publicity than. was necessary."
But Mr. I.ortgoria, interviewed at the
united states Attorney's office after ,
Mr. Void's senteadng, said the Gov.
ernmeat had not compromised its pose- ',
lion in the_case by acceding to the,gag
order or by dropping any reference to
nuclear munitions, since those isstres .
i were not involved in thg prosecution.
He aclmowledged that he had de-'
scribed the case in late Juae at the
bond hearing as more important than
just a routine export violation, but be
added:
,
s o
-
the
active in the case, the Federal-,i srble for assessors ocumen
~Y rained from Mr. Void and the photo-
p
,
y
.
e
one of three lawyers the Pakistani had ! -The Customs agent who was respoo-
became increas- -,
not qty' - -
retained in Houston
b
d i
copy shop said she read them "looking
for buzzwords" a~ found nothing:
The. agent, who worked under cover
in the investigation and agreed to be in-
terviewed only ii not iaeatdied, said
that the names of Mr: Butt and Colonel
Dar and others found in the cnt~?
spndence between Mr. Void and the
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
d been routinely processed through
the Treasury Department's law en-
forcement computer. -
"They came up negative,.. the agent
:said. "There was ~ record."
In subsequent interviews, Gary
Waugh and Rafael Lopez. senior offi-
cials of the strategic imestigatians
division of the Ltistoms Bureau in
Washington, confirmed that there was
m record of Mr. Butt,.1VI~. Void, or
Colonel Dar in theirs computer files.
Justice Department offidals is
Washington similarly explained 'that
they had no information linking Mr.
Void to the Pakistani Government at
the time the United States Attorney's
office in Houston was authorized to pro-
teed with a plea bargain in the case.
`We Did Not,Know
Who Those People Were' .
The telexes, which were addres.4ed to
Mr. Butt and Colonel Dar. were even
further evidence of a link between Mr. ~
Void and the Pakistan Atomic l~ergy
Commission, but no one in Houston,
Federal officials later said, tmderstood
that the two Mien were officials of the
Pa W ~d ngot know who those people
were," Mr. Longoria later told a re?
porter. -
He added: "We did not knave that
Dar or Butt were offidals with nuclear
bombs in Pakistan. we .didn't )moW
who they were." ~
Asked whether the Government had
had all of the evidence it needed to des i
cover Mr. Void's official link to the
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission,
Mr. Longoria said: "That's right. we
had the telexes. If we had known who
Butt and Dar were,-would have been in
a position to prove that. But we didn't
know and didn't find out until ~ came
into this room 20 minutes ~ ago."
Cc~- ~;~~=ed
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' Mr. Void. once confronted by t.
Federal proeecutocs with the telexes,
realized that he had no chance to win a ~
jury trial, acxording to his attorneys.
At that point, he sought alast-minute
bargain to avoid trial in which he would
plead guilty to one count, the lawyers '
said. -He understood. according to his
attorneys, that his plea meant that he
would be automatically deported from
the United States as a convicted felon.
The plea bargain was agreed upon
and was accepted by Judge DeAnda.
who was assigned to the case.
At the sentendng in October, the
judge announced. according to the
transcript. that he was "left with the
impression that this man was not act-
ing _ in any- capadty as as .enemy
agent "
He continued: "He apparently had
no malidous intent beyondtrying m ex-
pedite what he thought was a business
deal and trying to accommodate a cars-
tomer.and in so doing made a false re-
port. He did all the things the C~overa-
meat charges, but 'there's nottung in
the evidence aggravating beyond
that."
Judge DeMda then sentenced IYIr.
Void to two years in prison for violating
the export law but suspended the jail.
term to time served in jail,while await-
ing trial. Ivir. Void was Aso placed on
unsupervised probation for Sve years.
IVIr. Longoria argued briefly for a
stiffer sentence but ultimately agreed
with the judge that "we never claimed
'Mr. Void was an enemy of the camtry
nor Pakistan was an enemy, far from
'rt," according to the trarracrlpt..
The case ended. I1lir. Void was de-
ported an Nov. 10 without incident.
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