KAMUNTING DETENTION CAMP, Malaysia - Malaysia will not allow US investigators to question a top agent in the international nuclear black market scandal in detention here, a minister said Saturday.

Malaysia did not need "foreign intervention" in the case of Sri Lankan businessman BSA Tahir (photo left), who was detained Friday for involvement in the illicit nuclear network run by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, said Deputy Internal Security Minister Noh Omar.

Asked whether officers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigationwould be allowed to interrogate Tahir, Noh said: "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, described by President George W Bush earlier this year as Khan's "chief financial officer and money launderer", saying it could be a breakthrough in global efforts to dismantle Khan's nuclear network.

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.

Not Washinton pressure

Asked whether Malaysia would share information extracted from Tahir with the United States, Noh told reporters at a news conference in this camp where Tahir has begun serving a two-year detention order: "There is no need, but if they ask, we will have to see."

He said Tahir had not been arrested under pressure from Washington, but added that the Sri Lankan had been detained because his actions exposed the country "to possible threats of attack by the big powers and to economic sanctions".

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 under the Internal Security Act, which allows for two-year detention periods which can be renewed indefinitely. - AFP