Since 1990, US Customs officials have seized $ 5.5 million worth of navigation components for F-117 Stealth fighters, a propulsion motor for a nuclear submarine, computers and discs containing ``top secret'' data and missile parts.

All of it was surplus material equipment being exported illegally because of what Republican Senator Charles Grassley called ``lax administrative procedures'' in the Pentagon. ``If this property or equipment is used for subversive purposes, it could pose a threat to world security,'' he said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.