Tokyo Metropolitan Police recently arrested the president and CEO of Mitutoyo Corp. on charges that the company illegally exported equipment that can be used in making nuclear weapons.
Kazusaku Tezuka and four other Mitutoyo executives were arrested and charged with violating foreign trade control laws. Authorities suspect that Mitutoyo illegally exported two coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) to its subsidiary in Malaysia in 2001. These CMMs can be converted for use in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Police also suspect that Mitutoyo might have exported similar equipment to a company connected with Iran’s nuclear program through an Iranian company based in Tokyo.

This is not the first time Mitutoyo has been cited for allegedly breaking trade laws. The company’s Tokyo offices were raided in February over suspicions that it illegally exported CMMs to Japanese companies in China and Thailand. Additionally, Japanese news sources report that the International Atomic Energy Agency found Mitutoyo-made machinery at nuclear-related sites in Libya in 2003 and 2004.

At the time, Mitutoyo told authorities that it thought the materials found in Libya were going to be used in the oil and gas industry in the United Arab Emirates, and denied any wrongdoing. Mitutoyo declined to comment on the most recent arrests.

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