Zimbabwe impounds US plane with corpse, cash on board
Zimbabwean civil aviation authorities have seized a US-owned cargo plane carrying cash to South Africa’s central bank after they discovered a dead body on board.
The corpse was found when the MD11 cargo plane, which was flying from Germany to South Africa, stopped to refuel at the international airport in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, on Sunday.
“The body is presumed to be a stowaway who may have entered the airplane during a previous stop,” the Florida-based owner of the plane Western Global Airlines said in an email to Reuters.
The company added the plane was leased to Network Airlines of Britain and that the cargo belonged to the South African Reserve Bank.
The Herald, a state-run Zimbabwean newspaper, reported that the jet was travelling “with millions of” South African rands, worth $62,500 at today’s exchange rate.
South Africa’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Vusi Mavimbela said six crew and a few officials from the South African Reserve Bank were on board.
The crew, according to the newspaper, included two Americans, a South African and a Pakistani.
Zimbabwe police said investigations were underway into the issue.
“Our officers are on the ground investigating the case. We are working hard to get the identity of this dead person but I will only give clearer details when investigations are complete. The body has been taken for tests by experts,” said police spokeswoman Charity Charamba.
In 2004, the Zimbabwean authorities impounded a foreign plane and arrested a planeload of 64 mercenaries who wanted to take part in a coup in Equatorial Guinea, according to The Herald.
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