Malaysian police have seized two containers which may contain parts used to make nuclear weapons, from a ship bound for western Asia, national police chief Ismail Omar said, AFP reported.
"I can confirm that we have seized the containers at Port Klang but we do not know yet whether these are possibly parts to help make weapons of mass destruction or nuclear items," Omar told.
"We are waiting for a report from our nuclear agency on the parts seized before we can make any determination and investigations are still ongoing," he added.
His comments follow a front page story in the influential Sun daily which said police had seized "parts of an equipment believed used to make weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warhead" from a ship about 10 days ago.
The paper said the Malaysian-registered vessel, which had arrived from China and was headed for western Asia, carried dismantled equipment parts which were listed among items subject to controlled and restricted sale by the UN Security Council and other international laws.
It said the captain and crew were questioned by police before being allowed to leave port with their vessel, while authorities impounded the two containers and their contents.
Last April, Premier Najib Razak said his country would strictly enforce a new law to curb trafficking of nuclear weapons components after being linked to the illegal supply of sensitive technology to Iran and Libya.
Malaysia's parliament passed the Strategic Trade Bill early last year, which provides for prison terms of at least five years and fines of millions of dollars for those illegally bringing in or exporting material that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction.
The government has denied involvement in the illegal 2008 export of nuclear weapons to Iran although it confirmed the involvement of one of its nationals.
Earlier South Korea and Singapore have intercepted suspect nuclear and weapons materials bound for Iran, diplomats said Thursday, AFP reported.
The two seizures, made in the past six months but only revealed now, were destined for Iran and add to a growing list of alleged Iranian attempts to breach an international arms embargo, which are bringing mounting pressure to tighten sanctions, they said.
The details were confirmed by a second envoy at the UN who said the sanctions committee would study them when it discusses the latest report from Iran experts monitoring the sanctions regime.
Additionally, on March 15, the Israeli navy seized a ship that was smuggling weapons allegedly destined for terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the weapons seized from a ship were from Iran, the newspaper Haaretz reported.
Later, on Match 16, Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi strongly refuted claims by Israel about interception of a ship carrying Iranian made weapons enroute to Gaza.
Iranian nuclear program has caused concern since 2003, when the IAEA became aware of its concealed activity. In late 2003, Iran signed the Additional Protocol to the NPT and voluntarily announced about the suspension of uranium enrichment. However, it returned to this activity. Iran insists that as a party to the NPT it has the full right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The enriched uranium can be used to produce nuclear weapons. However, it is necessary as fuel for atomic power plants. Several countries, including the U.S., are sure that Iran strives to develop nuclear weapons and call for to prevent this development.
Until now, the UN Security Council adopted six resolutions, four of which are aimed at imposing sanctions against Iran, demanding to abandon uranium enrichment, and two resolutions containing warnings.
The UN Security Council resolution 1929 was adopted in the summer of 2010, as well as additional unilateral sanctions were approved by the U.S. Congress and the FMs of all EU countries, which are mainly directed against the banking, financial and energy sectors of Iran.