<i>Blueprints for advanced nukes possibly sold </i>
A report compiled by a former UN arms inspector warns that an international smuggling ring that sold bomb-related parts to Libya, Iran and North Korea also managed to acquire blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
The newspaper said a copy of the draft it had obtained suggests the plans could have been shared secretly with a number of countries or rogue groups.
The study focuses on drawings discovered in 2006 on computers owned by Swiss businessmen, according to the paper.
They included essential details for building a compact nuclear device that could be fitted on a type of ballistic missile used by Iran and more than a dozen developing countries, The Post said.
The computer contents -- among more than 1,000 gigabytes of data seized -- were recently destroyed by Swiss authorities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is investigating the now-defunct smuggling ring previously led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
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