Johan Meyer, 53, was arrested on Thursday last week and was charged a day later with three counts of possessing sensitive nuclear-related equipment and of illegally importing and exporting nuclear material.

"At this stage, the case will be postponed for further investigation," state prosecutor Chris MacAdam told the court.

"I have been informed (by Meyer's lawyers) that at this stage the bail application has been provisionally withdrawn."

No reason was given for the withdrawal.

South African investigators have confiscated 11 shipping containers containing components of a uranium enrichment plant from Meyer's business premises.

The crates were taken to Pelindaba, west of Pretoria, once the home of South Africa's nuclear weapons programme under apartheid.

A Western nuclear expert has told AFP that the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency was exploring suspected links between Meyer and Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan aimed at helping Libya develop an atomic weapons programme.

In Pakistan, Dr Khan is considered a national hero for developing the nuclear capability, but he has taken responsibility for leaks to Iran, Libya and North Korea. President Pervez Musharraf in February granted him a conditional pardon.

Meyer's lawyer Heinrich Badenhorst told reporters outside the Vanderbijlpark regional court, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Johannesburg, that his client denied any links with an international nuclear smuggling network.

"At this stage, we deny that there is any connection between my client and any international network."

He declined to say whether his client was considering a deal with the state.

Badenhorst added that he did not have any information on the containers confiscated from Meyer's business premises.

"Eleven shipping containers were found containing components of a centrifuge uranium enrichment plant," a statement issued by the South African Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction said earlier.

It said South Africa had undertaken investigations along with the IAEA "in the context of the so-called Khan network through which certain countries were provided with nuclear technology through, among others, networks established in various countries".

It added that the items did not consitute weapons of mass destruction but that they were "essential components in the process to enrich uranium."

The case has been postponed until October 11.