Khalid linked to mystery flight
Graeme Hosken
Independent Online, South Africa
_______________________
An aircraft, chartered by the South African Police Service to fly Pakistani national Rashid Khalid out of South Africa, took off secretly from the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria in the dead of night last November for an unknown destination.
The South African Air Force on Thursday confirmed that a plane chartered by the SAPS to fly Khalid out of South Africa had landed and taken off from Air Force Base Waterkloof in Pretoria during the early hours of November 6, 2005.
No flight plan was filed with the base and the aircraft's registration was not provided, said SAAF spokesperson Captain Ronald Maseko.
Khalid was arrested in November in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, for being an illegal immigrant. The department of home affairs says he was flown out of the country on November 6 to Pakistan. But none of his relatives in Pakistan has apparently seen him and his family say they fear he is in some kind of detention centre.
His lawyer Zehir Omar has claimed Khalid was handed over by the South African government to the British secret service following suggestions that he was a member of al-Qaeda.
Maseko said the Air Force had been requested by the SAPS, Home Affairs, Department of Justice and the Safety and Security Department to make the Waterkloof base available for a landing and take off early in the morning of November 6.
May 19 2006
Graeme Hosken
Independent Online, South Africa
_______________________
An aircraft, chartered by the South African Police Service to fly Pakistani national Rashid Khalid out of South Africa, took off secretly from the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria in the dead of night last November for an unknown destination.
The South African Air Force on Thursday confirmed that a plane chartered by the SAPS to fly Khalid out of South Africa had landed and taken off from Air Force Base Waterkloof in Pretoria during the early hours of November 6, 2005.
No flight plan was filed with the base and the aircraft's registration was not provided, said SAAF spokesperson Captain Ronald Maseko.
Khalid was arrested in November in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, for being an illegal immigrant. The department of home affairs says he was flown out of the country on November 6 to Pakistan. But none of his relatives in Pakistan has apparently seen him and his family say they fear he is in some kind of detention centre.
His lawyer Zehir Omar has claimed Khalid was handed over by the South African government to the British secret service following suggestions that he was a member of al-Qaeda.
Maseko said the Air Force had been requested by the SAPS, Home Affairs, Department of Justice and the Safety and Security Department to make the Waterkloof base available for a landing and take off early in the morning of November 6.
May 19 2006
