Plot to Smuggle Naval Equipment to Baghdad Told

LONDON — British customs officers, who seized 40 nuclear triggers believed bound for Baghdad, have also uncovered a plot to smuggle restricted naval equipment to Iraq, a government source said Thursday.

Press reports said that an Iraqi who was ordered deported because of the suspected nuclear plot was trying to get acoustic equipment used in underwater mines.

“An investigation is taking place in northwest England and in Scotland connected with the illegal export of naval equipment to Iraq,” the source said.

Britain’s Press Assn. news agency said customs agents raided lawyers’ and accountants’ offices in Liverpool and Edinburgh on Wednesday, seizing documents related to the investigation into the second alleged smuggling attempt.

Press Assn. said investigators following an international trail found that Omar Latif, an Iraqi employee of Iraqi Airways who was ordered to leave Britain, had planned to ship a wide range of weapons to Baghdad.

British customs declined comment on the report.

In the House of Commons on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, sidestepping attempts by the opposition Labor Party to have the government blame Iraqi authorities, rejected suggestions to break relations with Iraq.