Manila: An Iranian who was indicted in the United States for smuggling tons of steel for nuclear production in violation of the trade embargo against Iran, died of a heart attack while in the custody of Manila’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), senior officials told Gulf News. He was arrested in 2012. Arrangements are being made for the repatriation of the remains of Parviz Khaki, 47, also known as Martin, said Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose.

Khaki succumbed to a heart attack at the Manila Doctors Hospital before midnight on Monday. He was brought there at eight in the evening of the same day, said Jose in a belated report on Tuesday.

The department of justice will submit to the governments of Iran and the US data on Khaki’s case after his arrest at Pasay City’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport on May 26, 2012, said a staff of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

The US has failed to extradite Khaki to the US because of petitions filed by the Iranian Embassy before a regional trial court in Manila which heard the case, the source said.

The NBI arrested Khaki on the request of the US Department of Justice.

“US authorities believed that Khaki was exporting steel products to Iran which could be used as containers for uranium, a component for the generation of civil and nuclear power, including military nuclear weapons,” explained Claro de Castro, head of NBI Foreign Liaison Division.

According to the District Court of Columbia, Khaki was indicted on six counts of fraud following allegations that he was part of a conspiracy to smuggle to Iran between October 2008 and January 2011 technical materials and steel “with nuclear applications”.

These materials, the court said, included 20 tonnes of C-350 maraging steel; 20 tonnes of 7075-O aluminum alloy rods with a diameter of 80mm; 20 tonnes of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy rods with a diameter of 150mm; radioactive materials including barium-133, europium-152, cobalt-57, and cadmium-109; Arnokrome III magnetic tape, mass spectrometers; magnetic gauging equipment; a TCH600 nitrogen/hydrogen/oxygen analyser; pressure transducers, vacuum pumps and accessories.

The special materials could be used for gas centrifuges that enhance the production of uranium, the court added.

The US justice department also accused Khaki of money laundering and violating US laws that called for a trade embargo against Iran. The conviction carries 20 years’ imprisonment.

Khaki was about to return to Iran before his arrest in 2012. Authorities did not say the specific date of his entry to the Philippines, but this could be between late 2011 and early 2012.

His warrant of arrest was granted by Judge Amor Reyes, based on the indictment and warrant of arrest issued by the US District Court of Columbia.