One of the key figures in an illegal effort to supply Iran with chemical weapons during the late 1980s has been arrested in Zagreb, Croatia, six years after he escaped from a halfway house in Washington.
Dennis Bass, an investigator with the U.S. Customs Service, said yesterday that Peter Walaschek, a German national, was arrested by Zagreb officials Friday. He will now face extradition hearings to return him to the United States.
In 1987 and 1988, Walaschek, claiming to represent a German export company, arranged with a Baltimore chemical manufacturer, Alcolac Inc., to ship the chemical, thiodiglycol, to Iran. Thiodiglycol can be used in the manufacture of chemical weapons and the United States forbids its shipment to many unfriendly countries, including Iran.
In 1988, Walaschek pleaded guilty and agreed to be an undercover operative for the U.S. Customs Service. Instead, he fled before being sentenced.
Alcolac and its former export manager were also convicted on charges related to illegal exports of chemicals to the Middle East.