Kazusaku Tezuka、president of the raided manufacturer Mitutoyo Corp.、 speaks at a news conference in Kawasaki、Kanagawa Prefecture, on Feb. 14.

Exports of the products, three-dimensional gauges, are restricted under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law, but the company is suspected of selling them, together with operating software, to the two countries without permission from the trade minister, as required by law, investigative sources said.

The allegations follow the discovery by the International Atomic Energy Agency of precision measuring devices at a nuclear facility in Libya, including one that Mitutoyo had exported to Malaysia, similar to the two cited in the raid.

The gauges can measure precisely the size and shape of machinery parts. They can also be used to control the rotors of centrifuges used for uranium enrichment, a necessary step in the development of nuclear weapons.

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 18, 2006
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