Swedish Firm’s Illegal Weapons Exports Admitted

The managing director of Nobel Industries has admitted that a subsidiary illegally exported arms to blacklisted states, a Swedish magazine said Friday.

The business weekly Veckans Affarer quoted Anders Carlberg as saying that two consignments of advanced laser-guided Robot-70 anti-aircraft missiles made by the Bofors subsidiary were transported to Singapore in the full knowledge they would be shipped later to the Persian Gulf states of Dubai and Bahrain.

Swedish law strictly forbids the sale of arms either directly or indirectly to countries at war or to parts of the world where tension is high.

Sweden’s Reputation at Stake

Both Nobel Industries and Carlberg declined further comment on the interview, which Veckans Affarer released in advance of next week’s publication. Nobel said it would not make any further statement until next week.

Swedish Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson said that the continuing revelations were injuring Sweden’s reputation abroad but that no irreparable damage had been done.

“I think it is good that the Nobel management had found out about the smuggling. The company should lay its cards on the table as quickly as possible so we can get to the bottom of this all,” he said in a statement.

Carlberg told the magazine that an internal Nobel investigation had revealed that “the Bofors management knew that missiles, which were officially sold to Singapore, were actually bound for Dubai and Bahrain.”

$60 Million in Orders

“We have gone through the order books and found things which are over the legal limit,” Carlberg was quoted as saying.