GEORGE NEWS - Two South African men, Frederic (Frik) Potgieter (53) from George and Peter Huxham (55) from Langebaan, were arrested at a hotel in the Equatorial Guinean capital Malabo last week, Thursday 9 February.
They are both being detained in the notorious Black Beach prison – the same prison Hoekwil local Daniel Janse van Rensburg spent more than 400 days after he was illegally detained.
Police arrested Huxham and Potgieter at the Anda China Malabo hotel in Equatorial Guinea on a complaint believed to be related to a shipment of cocaine found on an international flight. The drugs were apparently discovered on the plane the men arrived with from Singapore on 4 January. Huxham and Potgieter are both employed by a Dutch oil and gas company.
According to the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco), they are yet to be charged with a crime.
A family spokesperson of the Potgieter's told George Herald earlier today that they haven’t been able to get in touch with Potgieter yet, so they can’t confirm his well-being.
“He was on his way back home and spent the night in Equatorial Guinea to catch his flight on the day off. He was arrested after allegedly using drugs and transporting them. This could not possibly be true as he did not use drugs of any kind at all,” the spokesperson said.
SA embassy staff apparently visited the men at the police station last Saturday and said they did not complain about treatment, access and medication or food.
The two latest arrests came two days after the high court in Cape Town authorised the attachment of a R300m superyacht, Blue Shadow, owned by Equatorial Guinea's vice-president Teodorin Nguema Obiang.
The sheriff seized Blue Shadow at Cape Town harbour so the vessel could be sold at a public auction to honour a court order that says Obiang has to pay about R40m in damages to Janse van Rensburg.
Read more on sister publication, www.georgeherald.com
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