Dutch Gunpowder Factory Raided for Alleged Iran Ties
Dutch police raided a gunpowder factory on Tuesday on a tip from Swedish authorities that the company was involved in illegal, multimillion-dollar sales to Iran, Dutch prosecutor Henk Wooldrik said Wednesday.
No arrests were made, but police and investigators of the Dutch Economic Affairs Ministry confiscated documents from the Muiden Chemie factory, 10 miles from Amsterdam in the town of Muiden.
Wooldrik said the firm is suspected of selling Iran four or five gunpowder shipments of between 200 and 400 tons each, in 1984 and 1985. Seized government export licenses for the shipments said the powder was destined for Yugoslavia.
“It may well have gone there, but it didn’t stay there,” Wooldrik said. “There are indications that the powder ultimately ended up in Iran.”
The Netherlands bans sales of weapons and ammunition to all war-troubled areas of the world.
In Stockholm, a customs criminal investigator said the information came from a pretrial investigation of the Swedish explosives and arms manufacturer Bofors.
Muiden Chemie spokesman Joost de Graaff denied knowledge of any sales to Iran. He said his company has shipped one or two small orders to Yugoslavia and has done business with Bofors for years.
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