It took federal agents six years to locate German exporter Peter Walaschek, wanted as an international fugitive for illegally shipping 90 tons of mustard gas ingredients from Baltimore to Iran in the late 1980s.
And now that he's finally in custody, the long arm of American law may not reach him.
Walaschek, whose 1988 conviction in Baltimore came shortly after thousands died from chemical warfare in the Iran-Iraq war, has been in a Croatian jail for more than three months as authorities try to sort out a myriad of problems surrounding extradition.
But officials in war-torn Croatia appear more concerned with military matters than with extraditing Walaschek -- much to the chagrin of U.S. officials.
"We're very, very anxious to get this guy back," said Agent Dennis Bass, an investigator with the U.S. Customs Service in Baltimore. "This isn't just a technicality where he didn't dot all the I's and cross all the T's.
"He was dealing mustard gas to an enemy of the U.S. and the Western world."
Walaschek, 52, was arrested Nov. 11 on an Interpol warrant at the Esplanada Hotel in Zagreb, the nation's capital.
His name was spotted by chance in the hotel guest book by local police, who were looking for another criminal, said Mladen Vulinec, an Interpol agent in Zagreb.
But a Croatian court, citing problems with a 94-year-old extradition treaty, refused to rule on extradition and has asked the nation's supreme court to render a decision, Agent Vulinec said.
"This is the first extradition case of its kind that we've had in our country," he said.
"The lower court was not sure what to do. . . . Trading with Iran is not a crime mentioned in the extradition treaty."
Noting that hostilities loom between Croatia and Bosnia, he added, "This is a difficult case, and there are a lot of things going on in this country right now. For how long we can keep [Walaschek], I don't know.
"That's up to the court."
In 1988, Walaschek, a sharply dressed businessman who traveled the world in search of exporting bargains, arranged with a South Baltimore chemical manufacturer -- Alcolac Inc. -- to ship large quantities of thiodiglycol to Iran.
Thiodiglycol, commonly used in making dyes and inks, is also the major ingredient in mustard agent. The United States bans its sale to Iran and Iraq.
But Walaschek devised a scheme to transport the chemical via circuitous routes through the Mediterranean Sea and Singapore before making its way to the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran.
Walaschek claimed in bills of lading that the final destination for the shipments was Singapore. He told shippers to falsify documents to say that transferring the chemicals was allowed under U.S. law.
He also listed sham companies and shippers in his attempts to disguise the exports.
But U.S. Customs agents caught on and intercepted a shipment of 430 barrels of thiodiglycol -- worth $198,860 -- destined for Iran.
The agents emptied the chemical from the barrels, filled them with water, and sent them on their way to the unsuspecting Iranians.
In 1988, Walaschek pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and agreed to be an undercover operative for the U.S. government in a probe of lethal chemical exports.
In pleading guilty, Walaschek said he hadn't realized that thiodiglycol could be used for mustard gas "and would have charged double had he known," said a federal agent.
Alcolac, in Fairfield, later pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of violating the Export Administration Act and was fined $438,000. The company's export manager, who pleaded guilty to filing a phony document with customs, received probation.
At the time, the Walaschek case was heralded as a major victory for customs officials in their struggle to halt the exporting of chemical warfare components.
But, instead of helping authorities, Walaschek fled the country while awaiting sentencing -- forfeiting $350,000 in bail money.
U.S. authorities want Walaschek not only as a fugitive but as a potential key witness against Seyed Kharim Ali Sobhani, an Iranian attache who was stationed in Germany when charged in a U.S. indictment with orchestrating the plan to buy ingredients of chemical warfare.
Mr. Sobhani, who is accused of paying Walaschek the money for the thiodiglycol purchases, remains at large.
Meanwhile, U.S. authorities are pressing for the extradition of Walaschek, who was captured in Croatia while apparently on a business trip.
For a foreign country to extradite someone, the crime in question must be included in an existing treaty between the countries.
Currently, there is no formal Croatian-U.S. treaty. Extraditions from Croatia are covered by a 1901 treaty that spells out 12 categories of crimes, but does not mention illegal exporting -- said Kathleen O. Gavin, an assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore.
"Right now, we're just waiting to hear from Croatia. As far as I know, things are proceeding, and we're hopeful that we will get him back," she said.
If Walaschek is released, it wouldn't be the first time that a suspected chemical warfare exporter slipped through the fingers U.S. officials. In 1989, Frans Van Amraat, a Dutch national who bought thiodiglycol from Alcolac and is alleged to have shipped it to Iraq, was released after Italian authorities refused to extradite him.
"They held him in Italy for seven months and said they could no longer detain him because the crimes for which he was accused were political in nature," said Agent Bass, the Baltimore customs investigator.
"The last we heard of him, he was living at the Al Rashid Hotel in Baghdad."
Prosecutors could argue that Walaschek's falsifying of shipping documents -- which he admitted doing so that he could circumvent customs regulations -- was a form of fraud and is therefore covered by a fraud clause in the 1901 treaty.
Walaschek was facing up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 at the time he fled the United States. He would face additional penalties if convicted of unlawful flight, authorities said.