BBC wrote:Zimbabwe 'seizes US cargo plane'
A US-registered cargo plane with 64 suspected mercenaries on board has been impounded in Harare, Zimbabwe says.
The Boeing 727-100 was held on Sunday after it "made a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Zimbabwe Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said.
"Mercenaries" of various nationalities and "military materiel" were on board, he told reporters.
The US State Department said it had no indication the plane was connected to the US government.
Mr Mohadi said the plane was detained at 1930 (1730GMT) on Sunday at Harare International Airport.
An investigation was under way to establish the men's identities and their "ultimate mission," he said.
South African crisps
Western journalists were unable to see the plane as Mr Mohadi said it had been moved to a military base.
But state-run television broadcast pictures of a white plane with the tail number N4610.
According to US Federal Aviation Administration records, N4610 is a 727 registered to Dodson Aviation Inc. based in Ottawa, Kansas.
However the firm told news agencies it had sold the aircraft about a week ago to an African company called Logo Ltd.
Footage of the plane shown on Zimbabwean TV showed military personnel displaying to the camera some of the equipment on board.
It included sledgehammers, bolt cutters, walkie-talkies, loudhailers, sleeping bags and heavy duty boots.
There was also what appeared to be a small canister of mace spray and a packet of crisps of South African origin - but no weapons.
It was not immediately clear what had happened to those on board the plane.
Mr Mohadi said a full statement would be released later.
If 67 mercenaries pose such a threat to his government that he needs to risk the wrath of Dubya in order to contain them, then Zimbabwe is stuck in an interestingly little dilemma.
The End of Suburbia
"If more cars are inevitable, must there not be roads for them to run on?"
-Robert Moses
"The Wire" is the best show in the history of television. Watch it today.
However the firm told news agencies it had sold the aircraft about a week ago to an African company called Logo Ltd.
Wouldn't the selling of the aircraft to the African company bring it out of our jurisdiction?~Jason
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."
Wouldn't the selling of the aircraft to the African company bring it out of our jurisdiction?~Jason
Nothing massive santictions and overflights won't fix and quick
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
Inside the mind of Robert Mugabe:
"Hmm...I've already gotten away with murder and ruining Zimbabwe. What now? I know...I'll piss off the United States!
This guy has had everyone in Zimbabwe who dared speak against him imprisoned and/or murdered claiming they were traitors, claims any foreign leaders who disagree with him are either racists or under the pay of racists, and now claims a plane filled with random equipment had weapons and mercenaries. I don't know if Mugabe is just plain evil or a paranoid nut. Either way, can we take him out now?
DPDarkPrimus is my boyfriend!
SDNW4 Nation: The Refuge And, on Nova Terra, Al-Stan the Totally and Completely Honest and Legitimate Weapons Dealer and Used Starship Salesman slept on a bed made of money, with a blaster under his pillow and his sombrero pulled over his face. This is to say, he slept very well indeed.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Zimbabwe is just about the only country on the face of the planet that would immediately benefit if its leader were removed by a foreign power. Of course, the logistics of doing that would be prohibitive - as these 64 "mercenaries" just discovered.
In any case, this reminds me of old "Mad" Mike Hoare and the Wild Geese.
Very simple, work on the us's paranoia reguarding Somolia, besides the Government of Zimbabwe has such a high AIDS rate in their soldiers that it would also play on our govenment's paranoia and do nothing about that particular disease, and our administration's history of mistreating soldiers I can see the deterrance factor.
The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin
