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CZECH Nationals In Court For Spying Using Sketche Maps Of Zambia Army Barracks And ZAF Headquarters Entrances
THREE Czech Republic nationals on October 21 appeared in a Lusaka magistrates’ court on a charge of espionage after being arrested for taking pictures of entrances to Arrakan Barracks, Zambia Air Force (ZAF) airbase and Mikango Barracks.
Michal Vebr, 45, a welder, Jiri Cetel, 45, a technician, and Jan Coufal, 36, a carpenter appeared before magistrate Ruth Chilembo for mention and committal to the High Court.
Ms Chilembo committed Vebr, Cetel and Coufal to the High Court for trial and granted them K10 million cash bail each.
The three are charged with espionage contrary to section 3 (b) of the State Security Act, Chapter 111 of the Laws of Zambia.
“Having received a certificate of committal from the Director of Public Prosecutions, I do hereby commit the three of you (Vebr, Cetel and Coufal) to the High Court for your trial,” she said.
And Ms Chilembo granted K10 million cash bail to each of the accused persons, and ordered them to surrender their passports to the senior clerk of court.
She said the accused persons should present two Zambian working sureties, report once in a week to Lusaka Central police station and their current residence should be ascertained.
Earlier, the accused’s defence lawyer, Kelvin Bwalya, said the court should grant bail to them because they are not a flight risk.
Particulars of the offence are that the trio jointly and whilst acting together made three sketches of the Zambia Army Arrakan Barracks and ZAF headquarters City Airport Air Base entrances and the Zambia Army Battle Training Area at Mikango Barracks, which are protected areas, things which might be intended to be directly or indirectly useful to a foreign power or disaffected person.
The offence is alleged to have been committed between October 6 and October in Lusaka.
Posted by Editor
on October 22, 2011. Filed under LATEST NEWS.
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Keen Follower
October 22, 2011 at 10:59 am
Woke up call! This is a woke up call. We Zambians must learn to be truly patriotic – love for each other. We spend a lot of time on these…tuleteka, tribalism, egocentric, politiking etc. At the pace we Zambians are moving by the time we realise we wont know what would have hit us thats when you we shall realise that their is no unhuman Zambian. You must reserve your drunken comments for once and be objective on this one, shaa…!
Kfp
October 22, 2011 at 11:02 am
They shudnt av bin grantd bail..
Chanda
October 22, 2011 at 11:04 am
Pf goverment make sure they are prosecuted and who ever is behind this should face the law.
Kaka Kwandi
October 22, 2011 at 11:22 am
This is serious. If some former MMD and army officials want to destablise these country. They must be exposed and brought to book. No one is above the the law. This is treason. Its a woke call indeed.
themba
October 22, 2011 at 11:39 am
Why were these guys granted bail in the first place,please lets not delay cases of this nature.i wouldn’t be surprised to hear that documents for the accused have disappeared from the court.pa ZED.
Observer
October 22, 2011 at 11:52 am
Rubbish, you can Google Lusaka and see each and every building in arakan barracks including defunct planes parked at Zaf base. The more serious fighting units are located outside of Lusaka. PF is now destroying tourism after stirring up our good relations with neighbors. Zambia’s insecurity relates to the hate culture by Mmembe not by check tourists.
JRK
October 22, 2011 at 12:02 pm
These guys really pose a national security risk and they did not deserve bail. They are supposed to caged until their case is concluded by the courts of law.
ADADA
October 22, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Pilize people. in this computer age,do you even have to leave the comfort of you room to spy on anything. with the higher versions of google earth one can even zoom in on a live feed
bazooka
October 22, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Observer tombanoko stanyoko,tamwakatukwanishe fikala fyabaninenu ba MMD..we’ll b xposin u 1 by 1 wt yo foolish schemes.Viva da defence wing 4 arrestn thoz bafikala.Bu lawyer nabo bwafeki,uyo nao lawyer taba patriotc,ena umusula utontonkanyafye impiya @ da xpens of our national security.
wow
October 22, 2011 at 12:22 pm
@ Kene Follower i agree with you.
wow
October 22, 2011 at 12:35 pm
@ Observer, we are living in an anarchy world. any one who steps on another country’s sensetive bases needs to be investigagated. The fact that these people were taking picture of our very sensetive sites is a serious offence. we have to take National security seriously. Zambia has attracted many upcoming Polarities since last elections considering uprisings up north. Any polar can do anything to distabilise our intelligency system. i commend the authorities for their swift action.
Dull
October 22, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Dont be dull; google earth is google earth and one cant be called a spy for google earthing. Even white house can be google earthed but to be called a spy goes beyond just taking pics or goigle earthing. The zambian judicial system knows exactly what these foreign nationals did to be classfied as spies. Dont just post cheap comment over something you know nothing about better just listen, watch and learn how certain areas of the law are run. This isnt a joking matter STOP being primitive- ati “computer age” do u seriously think that the lawyers and judges dont know about that and google earth?
Chintelelwe
October 22, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Observer cikala ca wiso.poono!
Lets not observe disgruntledly
October 22, 2011 at 1:06 pm
How does Fred Mmembe come in on this? You now sounding like a disgruntled observer. Leave the man alone
Observer
October 22, 2011 at 1:11 pm
You are really Dull. Patriotism is now turning to Xenophobia. People are taking pictures of the naked buffalo at Arakan barracks as many of have done before. Tourists fear national parks since the anarchist abolished ZAWA which protects both animals and innocent tourists. These people will never see the inside of jail and if they do, it will be another diplomatic miscalculation by your snake.
Lets not observe disgruntledly
October 22, 2011 at 1:27 pm
Observer, Thats another childish contribution you have there. Please be man enough to tell us what has peeved you not just ranting and spewing out nonsense. ‘Tourists fear national parks becoz zawa has been abolished’- such disjointed thinking is supposed to come from a kindergartner! You still cant stomach the simple fact that you lost? Grow up batata
Malunga besa
October 22, 2011 at 1:32 pm
War is fought on various levels. At lst level u lean about the art of fighting…..jr to rank of major, the 2nd & operational level u cordinate all arms of defence organisations to fight as a joint team and the 3rd level is a strategic level where the defence system is seen as a tool for implimenting national objectives or the military instrument of policy. A defence commander MUST be vested in the 3rd level or otherwise risk establishing a military boys force. This is where NEED for experience is needed to COMBAT teething security issues. Be questioned!!!
Shut the **** up!!!
October 22, 2011 at 1:34 pm
U are more dull than you sound. Just shut your stinking mouth up!
pad foot
October 22, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Lool! Comments are hilarious. In this technological era, we are so behind the west that they honestly don’t need to send spies with cameras to our local security bases! Ever heard of unmanned radar eluding drones?,complex eavesdropping equipment? If guys been listening lately, terrorist cell heads in somalia have been killed right in there bedrooms by machines been controlled on the other side of the planet! I hope we don’t screw up our already limping tourism sector.
kingpin
October 22, 2011 at 2:11 pm
to find thoz chaps with so many skechmaps of sensitive areas of our country is avery serious issue.thoz local surities shud be quized and no bail of watever kind 4 the spies.
sansah
October 22, 2011 at 2:33 pm
“between October 6 and October in Lusaka” Tumfweko, you write in such a hurry to be the first ones with the news. Find someone to proofread before clicking that publish button.
kulibonesha ta
October 22, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Hahaha, Kulibonesha ba tumfweko. Their quest to ‘be the first to spill it’ kills them oft times.
mIREK
October 22, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Well, those guys came to “visit” Zambia as tourists fro JAR where the were working and had just one week free…
Sketching some maps is really stupidity. Let the judge or the investigator show them and not only speak about them… The did not any sketching. The only thing what they do wrong is that they took some pictures of the buildings in the city and they were arrested after taking picture of an “airplane”…
But that’s what the tourists do… They are taking pictures of everything around…
Do you thing that the spies are working on public in the group of three? Do you thing that the spies looks like a bit overweight 45 years workers?
Come on!
mIREK
October 22, 2011 at 3:45 pm
JAR = ZA = South Afrika…
Adam Werrity
October 22, 2011 at 3:58 pm
@ PADFOOT “Ever heard of unmanned radar eluding drones”
How does a radar elude a drone???????? or u meant a drone eluding a radar… lol
Corruption Antidote
October 22, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Spies come in all sorts of figures and ages, some even as beautiful and skinny as Madhuri Dixit and others as fat and lethargic as me. Overweight is of no consequence after all the less conspicuous you are the better you will be as a spy. The most scary thing your friends did was the ‘sketchy’ bit but If they are not spies we will offer them an apology. Even you in South Africa you would do the same unless of course you just want to argue.
jimijay
October 22, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Patriotism is about having a passion for ones country.bafikala aba ba mwisa bala delela sana.comit them to our highest court they must learn to respect our book…
Florence Wachimonahu Dehi
October 22, 2011 at 5:07 pm
@ Adam Werrity, I am sure Padfoot meant radar eluding ‘unmanned drones’; meaning drones that are not manned and the drones elude or go undetected. These are just issues of syntax (order of arranging words), but you know what he means … ba drone bashimoneka pa … imwe radar chinshi kanshi mu chibemba?
Adam Werrity
October 22, 2011 at 6:08 pm
@Florence Wachimonahu Dehi
Yeah I have heard of radar-evading drones… Drones are always unmanned..
Radar in Bemba is icilata, lol
mIREK
October 22, 2011 at 7:02 pm
Yes and “The Spies” are taking pictures of one of two old aircrafts statues in front of air basement in the city centre. Well this aircarft was made in 1959 by Czech factory Aero. It’s type Aero L-29 Delfin. So for every Czech tourist it’s rare attraction to see that we (small country in Europe) are having aircrafts at the opposite site of the world…
Second suspicious picture are buffalo statues inf front of some building (military basement though). Last suspicious picture is an entrance to presidents palace…
Noted “sketchenotes” was just a printed map from Google Maps, where they made a notes where are they and where they want to go…
Paranoia or better Xenophobia. Those are the words for prosecution in this case… The people were arrested for one week and 2 days without water and food, just because they came with camera and printed map?
Come on!
Observer
October 22, 2011 at 7:25 pm
mIREK, We have heard you. These geriatric beasts in charge of the country wont last long. Soon they will know that insults to their fellow country men and hatred to foreign nationals is the shortest route to disastrous performance. They have jointly insulted me for telling them that true spying is not about 3 old overweight tourists taking pictures of a funny looking buffalo urinating in front of a barrack. These are xenophobes who have lost the unitary purpose of our country. Judge for yourself.
AKRRAL
October 22, 2011 at 7:59 pm
WE SHOULD TAKE SECURITY SERIOUS NOT CASUALLY.NO MATTER THEY ARE TOURIST,THERE IS REMITATION IN EVERYTHING.
HE SHOULD GET THE PUNISHMENT,NO LEAVE HIM AS HAPPNED TO CHINESE WHO KILLED PEOPLE IN MAAMBA
CRY
October 22, 2011 at 11:04 pm
DPP PLEASE ENTER NOLLE FOR THEM. WHERE IN THE WORLD HAVE SEEN A COUNTRY SERIOUS WITH DEFENCE& SECURITY KEEPING TROOPS AND COPS IN SHANTY COMPOUNDS EVEN COMMANDOS LIVE IN MUD HOUSES. SHAME. RELEASE THOSE TOURISTS
BOSS
October 22, 2011 at 11:18 pm
THERE NO WARNING SIGNS ON THOSE TOURIST ATTRACTION MONUMENTS THEREFORE I SUBMIT THAT YOU RELEASE THOSE PEOPLE AT ONCE. BARACKS ARE NOT EVEN SECURITY SENSITIVE PLACES. EVERYONE TAKES PHOTOS IN THOSE DILAPIDATED SOLDIERS’ HOUSES. ASK GBM HE POSED FOR A PHOTO IN ARAKAN BARACKS
Shut the **** up!
October 23, 2011 at 5:18 am
You are a beasty moron!
Moston
October 23, 2011 at 3:15 pm
The issue is debatable.its unplatable for a more advanced nation to resort to such primitive and outdated methods of spying or whichever country behind this could do much better even with internet however,possesion of material highlighting intrests only on area with military activities is indeed questionable.that being said,lets no attack each other like the comments i have seen on top..i think we can do better than talk dirt to each other.
Jan
October 26, 2011 at 11:17 am
Three tourist were taking pictures in the public street of an airplane which was made in Czech Republic (maybe because Zambia is far from construcing any airplane on its own) and had a printed out map from Google Earth. Now they are prosecuted by a corrupt government. Grow up, people, so you may one day join the rest of the civilised world. My God, this is such a silliness!
jiri
October 29, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Hallo. I am from Czech Rep (a small country in the middle of Europe), I am a relative of one of the accused and I can grand you, he is not a SPY! Maybe you do have some serious security problems in your country, but this certainly is not a way of solving them and make things better. I hope that justice will be done in the end of this.
kuko
November 10, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Google also does espionage? Here is a monument – aircraft. Everyone in the world can look Zambia in the detailed resolution. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=-15.414828%2C+28.321316&num=1&t=h&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&ll=-15.414777%2C28.321308&spn=0.002211%2C0.004128&z=19&iwloc=A
jaroslav
November 18, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Had they wanted to spy, they certainly would not have done it in such a primitive way. There are satellites above us that are able to make photos in detail of any object on the Earth. The allegation is ridiculous! Nobody was going to cause a harm to Zambia! Set them free!
Tourists? Or the worst spymasters ever?
November 22, 2011 at 9:04 pm
The Czechs are generally known as a peaceful nation who make guns and bombs for everyone else.
All Africa is full of Czech weapons and Czech military planes. Czech tourists are always gonna photograph them. ******, maybe, but not much more ****** than tourists visiting any other nation and saying “Ooo, we made that! Get photos!”
Maybe – just MAYBE – these guys are actually spies.
But realistically:
Let’s give some credit to the intelligence agencies in southern Africa. Let’s assume that if they want some spying done, they’re probably gonna hire some Boer mercenaries. They’re probably not gonna hire three middle-aged Czech welders who’ve only been in Africa for a few weeks. That would be a pretty dumb spymaster who came up with that plan.
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