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| author/source:Times (UK) |
| published:Wed 25-Aug-2004 |
| posted on this site:Wed 25-Aug-2004 |
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| Article Type : News |
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| "Possible funding and logistical assistance in relation to the attempted coup" |
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By Times Online and Agencies
Sir Mark Thatcher has been arrested by South African police over allegations he was involved in a planned coup in Equatorial Guinea. The son of Baroness Thatcher was arrested at his Cape Town home by detectives. Police are currently searching the property and Sir Mark is still at home. He will appear in a Cape Town court later today, which will decide on bail. A police spokesman, Makahosini Nkosi, told said: "We are investigating charges of contravening the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act. This is in relation to the possible funding and logistical assistance in relation to the attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea." Sipho Ngwema, spokesman for the FBI-style Scorpions anti-fraud unit which carried out the South African raid, said: "We have evidence that he financed the coup in Equatorial Guniea." He confirmed to the BBC that Sir Mark has denied any involvement in the plot. The trial of 17 men, including seven South Africans, six Armenians and four Equatorial Guineans accused of plotting the coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea opened this week. The men were arrested early March for conspiring to topple longtime leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
The Equatorial Guinea arrests took place two days after Zimbabwean authorities detained 70 suspected mercenaries at Harare airport after a tip-off from the South African government. The Equatorial Guinea men, led by a South African, Nick du Toit, were allegedly an advance group responsible for the preparations of the coup d’etat before the arrival of the 70 suspected soldiers of fortune who took off from South Africa and stopped in Harare to pick up weapons. The trial of the Zimbabwe group is in its final stages. The government in Harare has refused to extradite the 70 men to Equatorial Guinea. Mr Du Toit told a court in Equatorial Guinea yesterday that he had been in charge of logistics for an attempted putsch and had accepted the job at the request of Simon Mann, a former SAS man and the founder of the mercenary firm Executive Outcomes. Local media have said that Sir Mark is close to Mr Mann, who is alleged to be the leader of the Zimbabwean group and has pleaded guilty to attempting to possess dangerous weapons. He rejected a second charge of purchasing weapons, saying the deal never went through and denies the coup plot charges.
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