AN Oxford journalist told how he smuggled secret documents out of China to expose the country's dangerous nuclear test programme.

Justin Temple, a freelance journalist working for Oxford-based production company DirectTV, smuggled out details of the Chinese government's tests for an expos shown on Channel Four's Dispatches programme last night.

The Dispatches team discovered evidence that the nuclear testing in Xinjiang, a province in the north-west of the country, has resulted in a 30 per cent higher rate of cancer and deformity than in the rest of China.

Mr Temple said: "Beijing insists the testing is safe and poses no threat to human health, but our sources in China told a different story."

Mr Temple was part of an award-winning team which posed as tourists in the region to secretly film cancer victims and obtain top secret documents showing the true rates of the disease.

However details of their undercover exploits were embargoed until last night's screening of Dispatches.

Smuggling out the details of the nuclear tests was very risky for Mr Temple.

He said: "It was like something out of a spy thriller. I sat at a pre-arranged street-stall, sipping beer. Suddenly two other members of the team arrived and handed me a package, which I stuffed in my bag before slipping into the shadows.

"I was concerned about secret police lurking at the airport, but my luck was in.

"From then on it was a smooth ride to London and safety."

The revelations come a day after Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in China to try and boost economic links with Britain.

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