Swede charged with shipment to Iran

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LUND, Sweden, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A man operating an export business out of an apartment has become the first person in Sweden to be charged with violating Iranian sanctions, a prosecutor says.

His plan to ship vacuum pumps to Iran that could be used to enrich uranium unraveled when Swedish Customs conducted a random check of a shipment labeled as being headed for Dubai, Sveriges Television reported. Some boxes in the shipment had labels suggesting their final destination was Tehran.

Daniel Nord of the Swedish Agency for Non-Proliferation and Export Controls said the shipment had equipment that could be used for dairy products or fuel but was most likely to be intended for the nuclear industry.

"These are no ordinary vacuum pumps," he told SVT. "They're the kind that is necessary to enrich uranium."

The shipper was a company headquartered in an apartment in the university town of Lund in southern Sweden, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

Prosecutor Agnetha Hilding-Qvarnstrom said the defendant is the first person in Sweden to be charged with violating international sanctions aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program. He is expected to go on trial in January.