APARTHEID chemical warfare expert Wouter Basson held freeze-dried HIV-infected blood and a cocktail of poisons and bacteria to kill or sicken opponents of the white regime, a witness told his trial on Wednesday. Bacteriologist Mike Odendaal said he collected lethal substances while working at Roodeplaat Research Laboratories outside Pretoria, a front company for the apartheid military, and that his main client was Basson. Dubbed “Dr Death,” Basson is facing 61 charges ranging from fraud to drug dealing, and his trial in the High Court has for weeks heard harrowing tales of how hundreds of apartheid foes were murdered using sinister methods he allegedly suggested. Basson has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Odendaal said he thought his job was to develop a defensive capability against biochemical attacks, but soon found himself supplying chemical and biological agents to attack anti-apartheid activists. One of the victims of Roodeplaat’s germ factory was a cleric, Frank Chikane, now a senior advisor to President Thabo Mbeki, he told the court.