Tokyo police and customs authorities raided the offices of a machinery company suspected of illegally exporting to Iran technology capable of producing solid fuel for missiles, reports said Thursday.Authorities on Thursday raided 11 offices of grinding and measuring equipment manufacturer Seishin Enterprise Co. Ltd. as well as the home of its president on suspicion of violating the foreign trade law, Jiji Press and Kyodo news agencies said.
The firm is suspected of exporting two of its Jet Mill machines, which cost from 20 million to 100 million yen each (160,000 to 800,000 dollars), to an Iranian military goods company and to a rocket science labratory at a university in the country, Japan Broadcasting Corp. said.
Neither police nor customs officials would comment on the case and the company did not respond to phone calls.
Seishin is suspected of shipping the equipment to Iran between May 1999 and November 2000 without a permit from the trade industry.
Exports of the Jet Mill are restricted under the trade law because of its dual-use technology, Kyodo said.
It uses compressed air to grind solid materials, such as medicines or printer toner ink, into fine powder, and can also be used to increase the burn efficiency of solid rocket fuel, the reports said.
All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
Quick Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express
Nov 02, 2006
Discovery Rolls Toward LaunchA Mission To Mars Part TwoChinese Lunar Orbiter Prototype On Display At Air ShowShuttle Astronauts to Install Ball Aerospace Instruments Aboard Hubble Space TelescopeMikulski Applauds Hubble Announcement, Says Decision Is Right For AmericaTo The Dawn Of SpaceLost In Space No MoreOxygen Regeneration Restored At ISSISRO Moots Manned Mission To SpaceIndigenous Cryogenic Stage Successfully TestedLAUNCH Becomes First Magazine For Hobby Rocketry And Commercial Space Travel EnthusiastsNASA Gives Hubble Telescope A New Lease On LifeShape Of Things To Come-On The MoonIran To Step-Up Sensitive Nuclear ActivitiesNorth Korea To Rejoin Talks On Nuclear ProgramChina The Anti-Superpower Or The Second HyperpowerBush Says China Saving Too Much MoneyExplosion Blows Out Window At Paypal In Silicon ValleyArctic Snap Wreaks Havoc Across Nordic RegionGlobal Map Shows New Patterns Of Extinction RiskMicrobes Compete With Animals For Food By Making It StinkMore Species In The Tropics Because Life Has Been There LongerScientists Setting Dollar Value For EcosystemCzech Temelin Nuclear Reactor Hit By Fuel ProblemMost Lakes Across China Polluted Or Emptied Out By HumansUK To Push India And EU Over Climate Change ResponseWhite House Dismisses Chart Of Iraq Sliding Toward ChaosIraq Not Lost YetRed Cross Unveils Mass Southern Africa AIDS ProjectChina's Dirty Secret
