'Thatcher son was planning to flee South Africa'

Mark Thatcher, multi-millionaire businessman and son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, had planned to flee South Africa shortly before he was arrested on charges of being involved in a coup plot to overthrow the government of the central African country of Equatorial Guinea.

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Chief spokesperson for the elite 'Scorpions' police unit, Sipho Ngwema, said this on Thursday responding to reports that Mark Thatcher claimed he was innocent of all charges against him.

"Shortly before we swooped on his house in Cape Town on Wednesday morning, we knew that he had made plans to flee the country," said Ngwema.

Ngwema said Thatcher had taken several steps that proved that he was "on the verge of fleeing to the United States."

He had sold his four luxury vehicles, put his palatial house on the market for 22-million rand, reserved seats on a flight to the US on Monday this week for his wife and their two children and enrolled the children in American schools from the start of the new academic year next month.

Thatcher was arrested in Cape Town on Wednesday for transgressing South Africa's foreign military assistance law. He was released on bail of R2-million.