"Nuclear Modified" music CD sparks Israeli alert

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - When Yasmin Sabah was given a music CD by a friend, she never imagined it would make her the target of a clandestine operation by Israeli security services.

Sabah, a 22-year-old nurse, said the Defence Ministry placed her under surveillance last month after a passerby, drawn by a "for sale" sign on her car, reported that they had seen a CD in it with the handwritten title: "Jericho IV -- Nuclear Modified".

Israel is believed to have developed nuclear-tipped missiles known as Jerichos, although the government makes no official comment on the country's nuclear capabilities.

The CD had recordings of songs in Hebrew, English and Spanish, Sabah said on Wednesday. She did not know the origins of its provocative title.

Interviewed by Israel Radio, she said two security agents posing as prospective car-buyers arranged to meet her and then "sat in my car, looked at the disc, and then listened to it song by song, making sure there is nothing hidden in it".

The agents took the CD and have yet to return it, she said.

Shlomo Dror, a Defence Ministry spokesman, confirmed that Sabah had been investigated. When the CD was first spotted in her car, it had been parked near a military base, heightening authorities' suspicions.

(Writing by Avida Landau; editing by Robert Hart))