Margaret Thatcher's son arrested in South Africa

The son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was arrested in South Africa yesterday on suspicion of involvement in a mercenary plot against the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.

Mark Thatcher, 51, appeared in a Cape Town court which ordered him released under a series of strict conditions including the posting of a two million rand ($300,000) bank guarantee and surrender of his passport.

Thatcher, who was arrested early yesterday while still in his pyjamas, was not asked to enter a formal plea to draft charges against him, which include violations of South Africa's strict anti-mercenary laws.

He denied he had done anything wrong. "I am innocent of all charges made against me. I have been and am cooperating fully with the authorities in order to resolve the matter," Thatcher said in a statement.

"I have no involvement in any alleged coup in Equatorial Guinea and I reject all suggestions to the contrary."

South Africa's elite FBI-style Scorpions unit swooped on Thatcher's luxury home in an upscale Cape Town suburb early yesterday, searching items including telephone records and computer hard-drives for evidence.

"This man has a very serious case to answer in court," said Scorpions spokesman Makhosini Nkosi. "The Scorpions unit does not just arrest people unless there is a very strong case."

Mr Nkosi said his unit went into action following cooperation with their counterparts in Equatorial Guinea, where 14 foreigners are now being tried for the same coup plot.

Another group of 70 men, including many South Africans and known Thatcher acquaintance Simon Mann, a former British special forces officer, is on trial on similar charges in Zimbabwe.

Thatcher, a businessman, moved to Cape Town from the United States in the late 1990s.

Thatcher, whose mother was British premier from 1979-90, became Sir Mark when he inherited a baronetcy upon the death of his father Denis last year.

Magistrate Awie Kotze ordered Thatcher to return to the Wynberg magistrate's court on November 25, at which time formal charges could be laid.

He must remain in his home, effectively under house arrest, until he pays the bank guarantee, and will be required to stay in the Cape Town area even after that.

Thatcher, dressed in a dark suit and a blue tie, made no statement in court and did not speak to journalists.

South African police said they were probing Thatcher on suspicion of involvement in what officials have called a plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil producer.

"We have alleged that he (Thatcher) is a financier in that particular coup attempt... we are looking for documents that are going to assist us in our investigation. We take this very seriously," said another Scorpion spokesman, Sipho Ngwema.

Eighty-four foreigners, mostly South Africans, have been put on trial simultaneously in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea in one of Africa's most spectacular mercenary cases for decades.