3 years for Pakistani-American in nuclear linked export case

A Pakistani citizen who pleaded guilty last year to attempting to export nuclear-related material to his homeland was sentenced by a US court Friday to 37 months in prison, the Department of Justice said.Nadeem Akhtar, 46, of Silver Spring, Maryland, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Akhtar, one-time owner of Computer Communications USA of Columbia, was charged with trying to sell more than $400,000 in radiation detectors, calibration devices and other restricted nuclear-related equipment to Pakistan.The U.S. has restricted exports to Pakistans civilian and military nuclear programs, but Akhtar misrepresented what items he was selling and to whom they would be sold, U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod Rosenstein said.According to the U.S., Akhtar bought goods subject to export restrictions from companies in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Texas, then used false-end user certificates to ship them through front companies in Dubai and elsewhere to Pakistan.Akhtar admitted evading export regulations by using Computer Communications USA to buy, or try to buy, radiation detection devices, resins for coolant water purification, calibration and switching equipment, attenuators and surface refinishing abrasives.His customers included Pakistans Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and the Chinese-built Chashma Nuclear Power Plant I, both subject to U.S. export restrictions, according to the Justice Department.Akhtar is a Pakistani national and permanent resident of the U.S. His sentencing comes at a time when relations between the U.S. and Pakistan have been severely strained by everything from the raid last spring that killed Osama bin Laden to NATOs accidental killing of 24 Pakistani border troops in November.It also comes at a time of rising concern in the U.S. about the security of Pakistans nuclear arsenal.