According to the weekly Der Spiegel a company blacklisted by the German authorities bought a crane to help in the manufacture of its Shahab missile programme, condemned as a threat by Israel.

Mizan Machine paid the Liebherr company based in southern Germany 600,000 euros (785,000 dollars) last August for the crane, the magazine said.

Customs authorities were not told about the deal until the freighter transporting the crane had left Hamburg in northern Germany for the Middle East.

The report says they tried to get the ship stopped. At the weekend it was reported to be at Port Said in Egypt at the entrance to the Suez Canal.

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