ISLAMABAD, Oct 30: The president’s spokesman Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi on Tuesday refuted reports that nuclear scientists Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood and Chaudhry Majeed had been handed over to the United States authorities.

“It is absolutely baseless and incorrect that they had been handed over to the FBI or CIA,” Gen Qureshi said at a foreign office briefing.

He denied reports that they were in government’s custody. He said they had been questioned about their frequent visits to Afghanistan.

Gen Qureshi said that both these scientist had never been associated with the nuclear weapons development programme during their service.

He said that they had visited Afghanistan for land development and to suggest alternate crops to Afghan growers who had earlier been cultivating poppy.

He further said that Mr Mehmood had been indisposed so he had to be hospitalized.