{UAH} DR KIIZA BESIGYE NEEDS TO EXPLAIN TO US WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED TO THIS AIR CRAFT

Plane Carrying Smuggled Weapons Seized, Investigation Begun

NESHA STARCEVICSeptember 4, 1991 GMT

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) _ A Croatian-born Canadian businessman has been arrested and fined nearly $1 million for trying to smuggle 18 tons of weapons into Croatia by plane, the military said Tuesday.

The federal customs office seized a Uganda Air Boeing 707 and its $1.1 million arms shipment Saturday after two MiG-21 fighters of the federal air force intercepted the plane and forced it to land at Zagreb, the Croatian capital, a government statement said.

Col. Miodrag Starcevic said an investigation is continuing into the case of Anton Kikas, a Toronto-based businessman with dual citizenship.

 

Kikas, who emigrated from Croatia more than 20 years ago, was aboard the plane and later told military investigators that the arms had been purchased by the Croatian government, according to Starcevic, who said money for the weapons was collected by the Croatian National Fund in Canada.

The plane's final destination was given as Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, on a false cargo manifest that described the shipment as ″technical equipment,″ said Starcevic, who claimed it was actually bound for Croatia, Slovenia's neighbor.

 

Croatian officials denied they had anything to do with the weapons and said they were bound for Slovenia, but Slovenian officials said they knew nothing about the shipment.

Starcevic said Kikas first made an unsuccessful trip to Budapest, Hungary, to shop for arms, using a plane provided by top Croatian officials.

Kikas then went to Vienna, where he contracted with a dealer, identified as Michael Flober, to purchase $2.5 million worth of weapons, Starcevic said.

After a stop in Frankfurt on Aug. 23, Kikas traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he arranged the weapons shipment, Starcevic said.

He said the arms were loaded on the plane in Maputo, Mozambique. The plane flew to Entebbe, Uganda, and left Entebbe on Friday, Starcevic said.

The shipment included 520 Singapore-made automatic rifles, 1,350 rifle- launched grenades and 621,000 bullets, said Starcevic, who displayed a rifle and a grenade at a news conference.

 

The six-man Ugandan crew of the plane also remains under investigation and the captain has been fined $4,500 and his passport held pending payment.

In Johannesburg, the state-run arms company, Armscor, denied involvement in the weapons shipment. ″We have no contract with Yugoslavia nor have we made any shipments to Yugoslavia or any parties within the boundaries,″ it said.

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