Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar made the disclosure to reporters at this prison camp where the agent, Sri Lankan businessman B.S.A. Tahir, on Friday began serving a two-year detention order for involvement in the illicit nuclear network run by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Noh said Tahir, described by President George W. Bush earlier this year as Khan's "chief financial officer and money launderer", had been detained because his actions had exposed the country to possible attack by world powers or economic sanctions.

"Since December 2001 (Tahir) has been involved in activities that are illegal at an international level, that are contrary to United Nations treaties and resolutions by involving himself in an illicit international network of nuclear proliferation, especially in Libya," Noh said.

Tahir had deceived a local company into manufacturing centrifuge components for Libya's nuclear weapons programme and had "arranged secretly for technicians from Libya to undergo training on handling quality control machines that were part of Libya's nuclear weapons progamme".

Tahir, who is married to a Malaysian and split his time between business interests here and in Dubai, was arrested Friday at his home in Kuala Lumpur as a threat to national security.

Noh said Tahir was being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for two-year detention periods which can be renewed indefinitely and would not be brought to court because his offences were committed "at an international level".

Malaysia is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which governs the movement of nuclear weapons materials, such as uranium, but it has not signed an additional protocol covering nuclear-related parts.

Noh said Tahir's actions undermined Malaysia's security and economy, exposing the country "to possible threats of attack by the big powers and to economic sanctions".

In response to questions, Noh indicated, however, that Malaysia had not come under pressure from the United States to arrest Tahir, and brushed aside suggestions that officers from the Federal bureau of Investigation (FBI) would be allowed to question Tahir.

"We have arrested him. What is there to interview? We will solve our internal problems our own way, we don't need foreign intervention."

The US on Friday hailed the arrest of Tahir, saying it could be a breakthrough in global efforts to dismantle Khan's nuclear network.

The Malaysian link to the international nuclear blackmarket surfaced earlier this year after it was revealed that a company owned by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son Kamaluddin had manufactured centrifuge parts seized on a ship headed for Libya last year.

A police probe cleared the company, Scomi Precision Engineering (SCOPE), which said it had been misled about the purpose and destination of the parts, allegedly ordered by Tahir on behalf of Pakistan's Khan.

Tahir, 44, admitted to police that he acted as a middleman for Khan, and gave details of the proliferation scandal, according to an official report handed to the International Atomic Energy Agency in February.

Khan, a one-time national hero credited with making Pakistan a nuclear power, has admitted selling nuclear secrets abroad but was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf.

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