TOKYO, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Police in Japan have raided a company suspected of illegally exporting equipment that could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Mitutoyo Corp. is alleged to have sold precision measuring equipment to China and Thailand in 2001 and 2002 without the necessary government approval, reports the Financial Times.
Similar devices produced by the company were also found in Libya, which admitted in 2003 that it had a secret nuclear program that had since been scrapped.
The International Atomic Energy Agency discovered a precision instrument made by Mitutoyo at a nuclear facility in Libya between December 2003 and March 2004, according to reports that quoted Japanese police officials.
Japanese media reports indicate that Mitutoyo's instruments were delivered to Libya by a Malaysian company called Scomi, which has previously been linked to global nuclear trafficking. Police are now investigating the connection to establish how the transfer occurred.
Three-dimensional measuring machines like those made by Mitutoyo can be used to measure centrifuges used in uranium enrichment.
The Mitutoyo raid comes a month after the Japanese government filed a criminal complaint against Yamaha Motors -- the world's second largest motorcycle maker -- for illegally exporting helicopters to China it alleged could be used as weapons of mass destruction.
Tokyo has expressed growing concern over the military build-up of its neighborhood rival. In December, Foreign Minister Taro Aso called China's arsenal a "considerable threat."
