Impounded plane had R60 billion

Brian Chitemba Harare Bureau
INVESTIGATIONS have unearthed that the decomposing body found last week on a Western Global Airlines cargo plane at Harare International Airport was that of a stowaway, and that the craft was carrying about R60 billion destined for South Africa’s Reserve Bank. Indications are that the stowayay could have died four days before hisbody was discovered on the plane on 14 February.

The plane was impounded after it landed for refuelling and Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe staff noticed blood. Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Dr Joram Gumbo said the plane was released at midnight on Friday with the decomposed body and the billions of rand in cash.

Sources said the MD-11 trijet cargo plane, which spent five days at the airport under heavy guard, was packed with R100, R50, R20 and R10 denominations printed in Munich, Germany for the SARB as it tries to shore up that country’s flagging currency.

Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said postmortem results showed that the stowaway died from asphyxia (lack of oxygen), meaning he died after hiding on the craft.

The autopsy, she said, also indicated that the body was already being attacked by maggots, indicating he may have been dead for four days before discovery. “There were no external or internal injuries to the body which means that there was no likelihood of foul play or murder. The fact that he had no internal or external injuries also shows that he got on the plane alive but later died of asphyxia,” Snr Asst Comm Charamba said.

She said the ZRP had sent a notice to Interpol to trace the stowaway’s nationality in Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Uganda, Belgium and Germany because the Florida-based Western Global Airlines plane passed through these countries before it landed in Zimbabwe.

The man’s fingerprints were sent to the same countries. Officials at the airport who cannot be named for professional reasons told our Harare Bureau that the stowaway had unkempt hair, a dirty t-shirt, trousers held up by a piece of cloth improvised as a belt, and worn out slippers.

One source said the plane flew through Belgium, Uganda and Nigeria from 10 February to 13 before going from Belgium to Germany and then onto Zimbabwe on 14 February.

The plane crew — two Americans, a Pakistani and a South African — spent the past week at a five-star hotel in Harare while SARB officials were “sleeping on the plane” as Zimbabwean security agents stood guard outside.

In 2004, Zimbabwe aviation authorities impounded a plane with 64 mercenaries led by Simon Mann on board as they planned to who to stage a coup in Equatorial Guinea.