BBC\’s Nuclear Secrets – Season 1 Episode 5 (Ep. 5/5 total)
\’The Terror Trader\’ – First aired on February twelfth, 2007
Created by / more info at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes
In this episode:
Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan started working for URENCO in The Netherlands in 1972. Spying for the Pakistani security service Khan gained access to top-secret data due to lax security methods. Returning to Pakistani with his family in 1975 it would be years before the Dutch realised what Khan had stolen and why.
Khan\’s Muslim family had fled to Pakistan in 1971 following defeat in the Indo-Pakistan War and Khan had become a fierce nationalist. Pakistani President Bhutto supports Khan and he builds a nuclear plant in the foothills of the Himalayas. Dutch enquiries in the 1980s finally reveal Khan\’s but he gets off on a technicality. The U.S. overlooks Khan\’s program in order to gain Pakistani support against the USSR in Afghanistan. Khan acquires missile technology from China and extends his network into the Middle East.
UN Weapons Inspectors in Iraq uncover documents implicating Khan in nuclear trading but the West fails to act. Khan continues his trade amassing a huge personal fortune and becomes a hero following the detonation of Pakistan\’s first bomb. A joint CIA/MI6 task force uncovers Khan\’s dealings with Libya but are unable to move as Pakistani support is again needed in the post-9/11 Invasion of Afghanistan. UN Weapons Inspectors in Iran uncover further evidence implicating Khan, which the Iranians confirm.
The task force targets Khan\’s network with a double agent and intercept a shipment of centrifuges to Libya. Muammar al-Gaddafi agrees to cooperate with UN Weapons Inspectors and the full extent of Khan\’s capabilities are revealed. Khan\’s deputy Tehir is arrested and interrogated in Malaysia and confesses. Pakistani authorities deny any knowledge of Khan\’s network and he is arrested a forced to confess on live television. Khan remains under house arrest in Pakistan where his secrets are protected.
Nuclear Secrets:
Nuclear Secrets, aka Spies, Lies and the Superbomb, is a 2007 BBC Television docudrama series which looks at the race for nuclear supremacy from the Manhattan Project through to the Pakistani nuclear weapons. The series was produced by the BBC in co-production with National Geographic and NDR.
Series Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Secrets
Complete playlist at:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0A52D8E2F0AB6CAB&feature=view_all
Previous episode (S1E04 – Vanunu and the Bomb) at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIIYHRDuUow?list=PL0A52D8E2F0AB6CAB
My playlist to \’Nuclear Weapons\’ related full documentaries:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC3665D7EF5D7CA24&feature=view_all
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