Worked as CIA mole in Iran for over 25 yrs: Fake BARC scientist

In his statement, accused allegedly says he was planted to sabotage Iran’s nuclear mission; the US agency paid a substantial sum in dollars, he adds

- Ashish Singh

The probe into the arrest of two brothers impersonating Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) scientists has taken a sudden international turn.

During interrogation, the primary accused, Akhtar Hussaini Qutbuddin Ahmed, 60, claimed that he operated as a covert asset of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for over 25 years, under multiple assumed identities.

In his statement, Akhtar disclosed he allegedly had a clandestine liaison with CIA-linked operatives in Abu Dhabi during 1991-92. Officials familiar with the interrogation records stated that Akhtar told investigators that the meeting was arranged through intermediaries associated with a “Western energy-research consortium”. He allegedly posed as an Indian nuclear physicist specialising in atomic energy research and working on dual-use technologies with potential relevance to thermonuclear weapons development.

During this encounter, Akhtar claimed he presented his proprietary PWR-based (pressurised water reactor) fusion reactor prototype blueprint to the CIA operative, who in turn, offered him a “new deal’. The operative allegedly provided a deliberately altered reactor blueprint, containing altered isotopic compositions and fusion-core configurations, and instructed Akhtar to share the changed design with Iranian scientific entities as his own work. The accused claimed that he was paid a substantial sum in US dollars to execute the operation.