Zambia seizes Egyptian plane carrying millions in cash, gold and weapons

Zambian authorities seized a private Egyptian plane on Tuesday carrying $5.69m in cash, 602 suspected gold bars and five handguns with 126 rounds of ammunition.

Zambian officials said on Tuesday that the chartered plane was flown to Lusaka from Cairo, and 10 people - six Egyptians, a Dutchman, a Spaniard, a Latvian and a Zambian citizen - were arrested pending further investigation. 

The director general of the Zambia Drug Control Authority, Nason Banda, told reporters that the suspected gold weighed 127.2 kilograms. 

"Together with officers from various law enforcement agencies we conducted an operation which resulted in the seizure," Banda said.

Later, Paul Kabuswe, Zambia's minister for mines and minerals development, said the gold bars were gold coated and composed of copper, zinc, tin and nickel.

"The comprehensive analysis was actually done in our labs and what they found in terms of content was that those bars contained copper in the range of 58 to 61 percent and zinc in the range of 38 to 41 percent," Kabuswe said.

Egyptian authorities have not commented on the Zambian operation and Egyptian media outlets which initially reported on the seizure have since deleted the news clippings.

According to the Zambian Observer website there may have been at least four other planes at the airport which may have been related to the confiscated plane.