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Businessman packs up his life and disappears from luxury villa after Malaysian police declare he is free to go

International authorities that want to question the man at the centre of Malaysia's nuclear weapon parts trafficking scandal may have a hard time finding him.

Buhary Syed Abu Tahir and his family have paid their bills and disappeared from their luxury condominium in Kuala Lumpur's Kenny Hills,  leaving their belongings behind.

They had not been seen at their other house or condominium, neighbours and security guards said.

Malaysian authorities had questioned Mr Tahir over his role in an international trafficking network that sold nuclear secrets to Iran and Libya.

US President George W. Bush has labelled Mr Tahir the 'chief financial officer' of the smuggling ring led by the father of Pakistan's atomic programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan.

But Mr Tahir was released from questioning on Saturday after a three-month probe yielded no evidence that he - nor a Malaysian company he contracted to make centrifuge parts for the nuclear weapons black market - had broken the law.

Although Mr Tahir, his Malaysian wife, Nazimah Syed Majid, and two children have disappeared, leaving Malaysia altogether would probably be the last thing they would do,  sources close to the investigation said, pointing to the businessman's high-level connections.

The sources said Mr Tahir, 44, would be 'vulnerable' if he travelled abroad. 'The risks would pile up,' one diplomatic source said.

The public exposure of Dr Khan's smuggling activities in recent days has set off investigations in several countries, including Switzerland, Britain, Turkey, Germany and in Kazakhstan - an important Soviet-era uranium stockpiling centre, where Mr Tahir's Dubai-based company, SMB Computer, had an office.

US and British authorities, who first informed Malaysian police about Mr Tahir's involvement in the clandestine activities, want to question him at length about his relationship with Dr Khan and other figures from Libya and Iran.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, which is also investigating Dr Khan's syndicate, also has questions for Mr Tahir.

Despite the present media glare, Mr Tahir, who arrived in Malaysia from Dubai in 1994 and was introduced to high society by a prominent Malaysian, has the political and business connections to perhaps weather the crisis.

Besides links to the nuclear smuggling activities, Mr Tahir and his wife have a host of legitimate business interests. They have stakes in several companies that sell upmarket food to a clientele that includes ministers and their spouses.

Employees, neighbours and former business friends recount that Mr Tahir moved between Indian Muslim and Yemeni expatriate communities.

'He was soft-spoken but very articulate and ambitious and took care to cultivate prominent individuals,' a former business associate said.

His marriage to Nazimah, the daughter of a retired diplomat, in June 1998 was a society event and guests included  Dr Khan.

Mr Tahir travelled extensively and operated out of Dubai and Turkey. Neighbours seldom saw him because he was rarely home, but Mr Bush said British and American security officials were monitoring and recording his every movement.

His family moved from India to Sri Lanka when he was six. In his youth, he studied in New Delhi, where an uncle had connections with Dr Khan's alleged operation as a supplier.

The family moved to Dubai where Mr Tahir, in his early 20s, helped to set up SMB Computers, which grew into a leading computer supplier in the Middle East. Mr Tahir was its managing director.



Nuclear ring's alleged  middleman vanishes