The Keepers of the Persian Gate Read Online Free
Author: Sydney Maurice
International Military Call Signs will apply in Frequent Flyer. Well, gentlemen, now that that’s out of the way, I would like to introduce you to Captain Paddy Trimble. The Captain will provide you with a proper background and profile of our target,” said Lieutenant Graham.
Paddy lifted his laptop off the desk and walked to the lectern, pausing briefly to shake Admiral Humphrey’s hand as he passed him. He connected his laptop to a projector cable and a power point presentation appeared.
“Subject 42
Briefing to the UN Security Council Military Strategy Sub-Committee (The 1540 Committee)
Captain P. Trimble, Special Prosecutor’s Office, International Criminal Court
2 March 2011”
“Hello everyone. As it says here, I’m going to give you the same presentation I gave to a Sub-Committee of the United Nations Security Council, namely the 1540 Committee,” said Paddy. The 1540 Committee was established by the UN to unmask the global key players in the black market proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Part of this committee’s mandate lay in the targeting, arresting and removal of individuals contributing to illegal proliferation networks.
“Our target is Dr Ludwig Von Gunten, or the Mechanic as he has come to be known. He is a Swiss National…” began Paddy.
“Why the Mechanic?” interrupted Lieutenant Graham.
Paddy flicked onto a new slide showing a black and white photograph of the Mechanic during his younger years in Holland.
“He was a metallurgist. Most people specialising in nuclear projects were engineers. As a result he was initially looked down upon by many of his peers, and his first boss at CENCA called him ‘the Mechanic’. It was probably intended as an insult; however, the name stuck,” explained Paddy.
The Mechanic was born in Zurich on 17 January 1939. He received a degree in Physics with Mathematics from Cambridge in 1957. In further studies, at other institutions across Europe, he gained an MSc and Doctorate in Uranium Metallurgy. In 1971, he joined CENCA, outside Amsterdam, working in uranium enrichment.
One evening in February 1972, the Mechanic managed to gain access to CENCA’s archives under the pretext that he was working late and sending letters to family back in Switzerland, where his brother had allegedly taken ill. That evening he fled the Netherlands, but not before managing to steal almost two hundred documents relating to uranium enrichment. At the time, CENCA Group had handed him the drawings of centrifuges for the mathematical solution of the physics problems in the gas centrifuges.
“Uranium enrichment is an impossible process without the technical information to rely upon. These documents would have been extremely dangerous in the wrong hands,” said Paddy.
It took years for Dutch authorities to figure out what he had done with the documents. Meanwhile, the Mechanic had made his way to Pakistan where he had been accepted by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Nobody at the time knew why he had done this; however, it was later revealed that the Mechanic had married a Pakistani bride and had children by her.
“Given the threat posed by a nuclear-armed India during this time, I understand that a young Von Gunten felt it was his god-given responsibility to protect Pakistan. He even converted to Islam. I think his purposes were genuine at this time,” said Paddy.
“Well, he’s a war criminal now,” interjected Alex.
“That’s correct, and after he achieved the bomb for Pakistan, he went out on his own, selling his special knowledge to the highest bidder. In the 1970s and early 1980s, his business grew exponentially. Instead of just selling knowledge he began trading in materials, which led many to consider him the father of the modern nuclear black market,” replied Paddy.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Mechanic had amassed a fortune buying up what many considered to be obsolete technology from former Soviet Bloc
Paddy lifted his laptop off the desk and walked to the lectern, pausing briefly to shake Admiral Humphrey’s hand as he passed him. He connected his laptop to a projector cable and a power point presentation appeared.
“Subject 42
Briefing to the UN Security Council Military Strategy Sub-Committee (The 1540 Committee)
Captain P. Trimble, Special Prosecutor’s Office, International Criminal Court
2 March 2011”
“Hello everyone. As it says here, I’m going to give you the same presentation I gave to a Sub-Committee of the United Nations Security Council, namely the 1540 Committee,” said Paddy. The 1540 Committee was established by the UN to unmask the global key players in the black market proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Part of this committee’s mandate lay in the targeting, arresting and removal of individuals contributing to illegal proliferation networks.
“Our target is Dr Ludwig Von Gunten, or the Mechanic as he has come to be known. He is a Swiss National…” began Paddy.
“Why the Mechanic?” interrupted Lieutenant Graham.
Paddy flicked onto a new slide showing a black and white photograph of the Mechanic during his younger years in Holland.
“He was a metallurgist. Most people specialising in nuclear projects were engineers. As a result he was initially looked down upon by many of his peers, and his first boss at CENCA called him ‘the Mechanic’. It was probably intended as an insult; however, the name stuck,” explained Paddy.
The Mechanic was born in Zurich on 17 January 1939. He received a degree in Physics with Mathematics from Cambridge in 1957. In further studies, at other institutions across Europe, he gained an MSc and Doctorate in Uranium Metallurgy. In 1971, he joined CENCA, outside Amsterdam, working in uranium enrichment.
One evening in February 1972, the Mechanic managed to gain access to CENCA’s archives under the pretext that he was working late and sending letters to family back in Switzerland, where his brother had allegedly taken ill. That evening he fled the Netherlands, but not before managing to steal almost two hundred documents relating to uranium enrichment. At the time, CENCA Group had handed him the drawings of centrifuges for the mathematical solution of the physics problems in the gas centrifuges.
“Uranium enrichment is an impossible process without the technical information to rely upon. These documents would have been extremely dangerous in the wrong hands,” said Paddy.
It took years for Dutch authorities to figure out what he had done with the documents. Meanwhile, the Mechanic had made his way to Pakistan where he had been accepted by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Nobody at the time knew why he had done this; however, it was later revealed that the Mechanic had married a Pakistani bride and had children by her.
“Given the threat posed by a nuclear-armed India during this time, I understand that a young Von Gunten felt it was his god-given responsibility to protect Pakistan. He even converted to Islam. I think his purposes were genuine at this time,” said Paddy.
“Well, he’s a war criminal now,” interjected Alex.
“That’s correct, and after he achieved the bomb for Pakistan, he went out on his own, selling his special knowledge to the highest bidder. In the 1970s and early 1980s, his business grew exponentially. Instead of just selling knowledge he began trading in materials, which led many to consider him the father of the modern nuclear black market,” replied Paddy.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Mechanic had amassed a fortune buying up what many considered to be obsolete technology from former Soviet Bloc
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