Investigators Search German Firms’ Offices
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OFFENBURG, West Germany — Prosecutors today searched the offices of 14 West German companies suspected of helping Libya build a chemical weapons factory, authorities said.
A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in Offenburg, Hubertus Voegele, said one of the firms searched was Imhausen-Chemie in Lahr, which is suspected of playing a major role in building and equipping the Libyan plant.
Voegele said the searches were conducted “on suspicion that export laws had been violated.” He declined to name the other firms whose offices were searched, but added they were located throughout the country.
The U.S. government says the plant at Rabta, 60 miles south of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, was built to make poison gas. Libya says it will manufacture medicine.
Bonn officials initially dismissed the U.S. allegations, but have now launched a criminal investigation to determine if Imhausen-Chemie and other companies illegally shipped arms, hazardous substances or components that can be used to produce them.
The affair has deeply embarrassed the West German government.
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