PRETORIA, Sept 10: South Africa will next week brief the UN's nuclear watchdog agency about recent arrests in connection with an international nuclear smuggling ring with ties to Libya, a senior official said on Friday.

Abdul Minty, chairman of the Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, said the report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be made as part of the board's review of Libya's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

Two German men living permanently in South Africa were charged on Thursday by a South African court with illegally exporting equipment to enrich uranium, a week after a South African businessman was arrested on similar charges.

South African officials said the arrests were part of a probe into ties with a nuclear smuggling network thought to be linked to Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who admitted in February to helping Libya and other nations develop their weapons programme. -AFP