The link was dead by the time I read it. Here is the story in its entirety


An official at Mitutoyo Corp., based outside Tokyo, confirmed the raid but refused to discuss the case, saying only that the company would cooperate with police. The company shut down its phone lines later in the day.
Japan's top newspapers, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News agency reported the company was suspected of exporting three-dimensional measuring machines to Japanese companies in China and Thailand in 2001 without seeking government permission as required.
Some of the reports also said the company's machinery may have been diverted separately to Libya for use in that country's now-abandoned nuclear program. The conservative Sankei newspaper reported the company's machinery could also have reached North Korea.
The reports all cited unidentified sources. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police confirmed that investigators raided the company but said they could not provide other details of the case unless an arrest was made. Government officials also refused to discuss the case.
Japan's technological prowess as Asia's most advanced economy could make it an attractive shopping ground for states and others eager to build a nuclear weapon. Resource-poor Japan is particularly active in nuclear energy.
Nobumasa Akiyama, a specialist at the government-affiliated Center of the Promotion of Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, said Japan is a ''treasure trove'' for those seeking technology with nuclear applications.
''Japanese companies are often uninterested in where their products end up, or what they are used for, and often try to dodge export regulations without realizing the consequences,'' Akiyama said.
Three-dimensional measuring machines map cylindrical shapes to great detail and cannot be exported without government permission, said Mikio Aoki, an official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Aoki, who refused to specifically discuss the Mitutoyo case, said that high-tech versions of the machine can also measure centrifuges used in uranium enrichment.
Japanese news reports have said the International Atomic Energy Agency discovered machinery manufactured by Mitutoyo at nuclear-related sites in Libya during inspections in December 2003 and January 2004.
The equipment was shipped to Libya via Dubai by Scomi Precision Engineering Bhd., a Malaysian maker linked to an international nuclear trafficking network, Kyodo News agency reported Monday.
Kyodo said the company, also known as SCOPE, imported six units from Mitutoyo in early 2002.
The company was linked to the proliferation network led by Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, in October 2003, when some 25,000 SCOPE-produced centrifuge parts for enriching uranium were seized en route to Libya.
Malaysian police cleared SCOPE of knowing the parts were bound for Libya, or intended for nuclear use. The company says it thought they were destined for the oil and gas industry in Dubai.
Police suspect machinery exported by Mitutoyo may have also reached North Korea via the international black market in nuclear-related technology, the Sankei newspaper reported.
Libya said in 2003 it had given up what had been a secret nuclear, biological and chemical weapons program, handing over drawings of a crude nuclear bomb to the IAEA.
North Korea is believed to have enough radioactive material for about a half-dozen bombs from its publicly acknowledged plutonium program. It claimed it had nuclear weapons in February last year.