PPRuNe Forums - Ex-SAAF Mirage pilot caught with cocaine in Australia

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Ex-SAAF Mirage pilot caught with cocaine in Australia

A South African ex-Mirage pilot and senior officer, Franz Johannes Van Coetzee, a South African national, who is living in Langens Lane, Tamworth, has been remanded in custody.
W who was arrested with 25 kg of cocaine at the BAE/Ansett Flight College at Tamworth in Nieu Zuid Wallis

Anybody got any more news ?

An english version of the news as we just have it in Afrikaans ?

Brgds from a sad, fellow ex - SAAF colleage :o

I am sure he appreciates you naming him on a public forum.

In Australia you are (supposed) to be innocent until proven guilty.

Consider this post reported.

What, SH, is your objection to the person being named in a public forum? Would the suppression of his name protect his right to a fair trial? How does publication set at risk his presumption of innocence? Would a jury not be permitted access to his name in case it coloured their objectivity?
Waken up, man, 25Kg of a highly-illegal substance is NOT a misdemeanour, it's a bloody crime! I seriously doubt he could claim it is for personal use!

Kind regards,

TheNightOwl.:mad:

He said he was arrested, not guilty. Why don't you take a half hour spell in the room of mirrors, so you can have a good hard look at yourself.

I'd like to hear more too - anyone?

If his name is reported publicly and not supressed by the court then there is no problem.

Until I can establish that, I will remove his name but it will be restored otherwise.

If the alleged charge is correct then IMHO he should be sent back from whence he came.
25 Kg of Cocaine should be a capital offence, it'll kill, maim or destroy many many people and ruin the lives of those around them.:mad:

Woomera

I can appreciate your sensitivity regarding the 'naming' of this person here on PPRuNE as being in a 'public forum'.

Seeing as how the name has been used on the ABC Website since at least early last Friday (17/1/03) morning, I wonder if it could be said that the name IS already 'in the public arena'.

Refer:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/australia...7jan2003-2.htm

ding

I'm with you, bigW, name him, shame him then hang him IF HE IS GUILTY! Mind you, it can be argued that, if there was no market, then there couldn't be people like him.

Kind regards,

TheNightOwl. :confused:

Nobody; and I mean nobody, gets caught with 25kg of powder and can then claim they didn't know about it! Looks like his retirement fund just took one hell of a bashing! :mad:
Send the guy packing I say!:D

Look on the bright side. He's 46 now so will have one year of state pension in the bank by the time we send him back to SA at 65.

SH,

Sorry you feel that way. This is a rumour network but even so - his NAME (FRANS COETZEE) was already in your newspapers last Friday when he was arrested.

Sorry about my spelling as well guys - English is not my first language and I took the names out of the Afrikaans Newsreport.

Anyway here is the ENGLISH reports : In ALL our newspapers today

Once again I am sad (but then again very HAPPY that 25 kg of coke is off the street) ;) A friend mailed me from there and he pleaded his innocence as he "was framed" as he said.

Pretoria - A second South African may be extradited to Australia after police there arrested a former South African Air Force pilot for allegedly smuggling 25kg of cocaine with a street value of about R43m.

Frans Coetzee (46), a former air force Mirage pilot, is an instructor at the BAE/Ansett Aviation College at Tamworth in New South Wales. He was arrested at his home in Tamworth in the early hours of Friday morning.

If Coetzee is found guilty, he could be facing a life sentence.
His arrest comes after Australian police apparently had tapped his phone and intercepted his e-mails since April 2001.
A container with an large amount of cocaine arrived from South Africa in Sydney Harbour during this time. Police did not act immediately, but kept the suspects under surveillance to determine whether a larger smuggling network was involved.

SA police involved in operation
Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht, a spokesperson for Interpol, said the Australian police have been working with the South African Narcotics Bureau (Sanab) for the past 18 months to expose the network.

Australian police visited South Africa to get information and documentation. The investigation will continue despite Coetzee's arrest.

No Australians have been arrested yet.
Martins-Engelbrecht said Australian police might ask for the extradition of at least one other South African. One of the other suspects is allegedly a member of Coetzee's family.

Coetzee appeared in the Tamworth Court on Friday on charges of drug trafficking and the possession of, and dealing in, drugs. The case will continue in Sydney this week because the alleged crime took place there.

Coetzee will be asked to plead then.
Coetzee was a lieutenant-colonel in the air force and had worked as a fighter-plane instructor at Hoedspruit air force base. He was a senior instructor at Air Force College in Thaba Tshwane before he resigned his commission in 1998.

He and two other South Africans, Ian Jones and Graham Rochat, have been flying at Tamworth College since 2000. Both Jones and Rochat were formerly instructors in the South African Air Force.

Rochat was also a flight safety officer at South African Airways after he left the air force. Australian police questioned him and Jones because of the South African connection.

Their homes were also searched, but they apparently knew nothing about the drugs.
Life sentence likely if guilty
Professor André Thomashausen of the University of South Africa's Centre for International Law said yesterday Coetzee probably would be sentenced to life in prison if he was found guilty.

"If he was caught in a country such as Thailand or Singapore with that quantity of drugs, he would undoubtedly have been sentenced to death."

Thomashausen said the Australian government probably would appoint a legal representative for Coetzee. "Australia has an excellent legal system and Coetzee will get a fair hearing."

OK, from the ABC News site;
Posted: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 9:09 AEDT
"Man accused of possessing cocaine remanded in Sydney court
A 46-year-old man has appeared in the Tamworth Local Court on charges relating to the discovery of cocaine with a street value of almost $5 million.

Franz Johannes Van Coetzee, a South African national, who is living in Langens Lane, Tamworth, has been remanded in custody.

Coetzee has given his occupation as a pilot.

Police claim they discovered more than 24 kilos of cocaine in a self-storage facility in Sydney in April 2001, sparking a major investigation by New South Wales and federal police officers.

Police told the Tamworth Court that the drug had a street value of $4.8 million.

Coetzee was arrested in Tamworth and charged under the Drugs Misuse and Trafficking Act.

He has been charged with supplying and possessing drugs.

He has been remanded to the Sydney Central Court on January 24. "

I'll stand corrected.

We have, in the past, had names thrown around unfairly.

It seems to me the man had found a novel way of getting his life savings out of South Africa, and as the Australian government couldn't tax him on it, they arrested him.
:D

Sonny H,

I can promise you his friends are not happy at all !

Uhmm I think - neither the receiver ;)

Guess the feds got suspicious when he ordered the glass coffee table.....:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Steely