Espionage charges face 5 Egyptians, 6 Zambians after seizure of private jet bearing millions of dollars, weapons

Authorities are investigating five Egyptian nationals and six Zambians on espionage charges after the emergence of an international scandal revolving around a private jet loaded with millions of dollars, bars of counterfeit gold and weapons.

The defendants appeared before the Lukasa court on Monday, with the court deciding Tuesday that they should remain in detention, Zambian lawyer Martha Mushipe told Mada Masr, noting that if convicted, they could face sentences of up to 30 years.

Alongside the 11 defendants, one other Egyptian national and three individuals from Latvia, Spain and the Netherlands were arrested after the Zambian Drug Enforcement Commission seized on August 14 a private jet apparently carrying around 127 kg of gold ingots, US$5.7 million in cash and several firearms. The whereabouts of the Europeans are unknown.

No charges were brought against the 11 defendants until Monday, when the five Egyptians being investigated — Walid Refaat Fahimi Botros Abdelsayed, Mounir Shaker Gerges Awad, Mohamed Abdelhak Mohamed Gooda, Yasser Mokhtar Abdelghafor Elshishtawy, and Michael Adel Michael Botros — appeared for the first time before the Lukasa court, where they were officially accused of espionage.

Charges are yet to be leveled against the sixth unnamed Egyptian national and the three Europeans.

Though the defense team requested the five Egyptians’ release on bail, the Zambian prosecution submitted a memo demanding they remain in detention, Mushipe said, adding that the defense is continuing to push for their release.

The court requested that the prosecution justify its decision not to allow their release, with the prosecution requesting an adjournment to do so, which the court granted, planning to resume the session on Wednesday.

Espionage charges can be applied to anyone, according to the Zambian State Security Act, “who, for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the Republic, approaches, inspects, passes over, is in the vicinity of, or enters any protected place,” according to the prosecution’s petition, a copy of which was reviewed by Mada Masr.

Kenneth Kaunda International Airport, where all six Egyptian nationals, four of the detained Zambians and all three westerners were arrested, qualifies as a protected place under the act. The two remaining Zambian defendants were arrested later.

If convicted, said Mushipe, the defendants would face prison sentences of at least 20 years or a maximum of 30 years.

The suspects were initially supposed to appear before the court on August 18, but the Egyptian nationals said illness prevented them from attending.

All the defendants were then scheduled to attend a session on August 21, yet the responsible prosecutor, along with most of Zambia’s prosecutors, were preoccupied with attending a judicial conference in Livingstone.

As a result, most cases were effectively adjourned without an official decision until the conference ended on Friday.

Though press outlets in Egypt have been instructed by security authorities not to follow the case, according to sources who previously spoke to Mada Masr, state outlet Middle East News Agency quoted an informed source as saying that the Egyptian authorities are coordinating with their Zambian counterparts to follow up on the investigations of the Egyptian defendants.

Mada Masr was able to establish that a majority of the flights undertaken by the jet from which the suspects were arrested began or terminated in Egypt.

The plane’s owner remains unidentified and listed as “private” on flight tracking services.

Navigational data from the ADS-B Exchange shows that the plane departed Cairo International Airport before leaving for Zambia.