US couple 'tried to pass nuclear secrets to Venezuela'

The US has charged a pair of former nuclear contractors with attempting to leak nuclear secrets to Venezuela. The husband and wife team were arrested on Friday in New Mexico and accused of passing nuclear information to an FBI agent posing as a Venezuelan spy. US citizens Pedro and Marjorie Mascheroni were contractors at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a centre of US nuclear research. The US justice department did not accuse Venezuela of wrongdoing. "The conduct alleged in this indictment is serious and should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider compromising our nation's nuclear secrets for profit," Assistant Attorney General David Kris said in a statement.

Mr Mascheroni, a 75-year-old native of Argentina, worked as a scientist at Los Alamos from 1979 until 1988, when he was fired after criticising US nuclear research funding priorities, according to court documents. Mrs Mascheroni was a technical writer and editor from 1981 to 2010, the justice department said. The pair had access to nuclear secrets, including material on the design and manufacture of nuclear weapons.