|
Four South
Africans, including the twins, Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie,
faced charges in court ranging from conspiracy to firearms
offences, the spokesman for the elite police unit Hawks,
Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, said.
The four, arrested in Johannesburg on Sunday, will be detained
in custody until July 19, when their case will be heard,
Mulaudzi said.
Quoting the charge sheet, the News24 news organization said the
twins had been attempting to fly to Syria. Security officials
say there are no known militant groups operating in South
Africa, but Britain and the United States warned in June of a
high threat of attacks against foreigners in the country's
shopping malls.
Mulaudzi named the other two siblings as Fatima and Ibrahim
Mohammed Patel.
"The indictment does talk to issues of terror plots that they
were planning against the U.S. Embassy as well as Jewish
Buildings in the country," he said, referring to the twins.
"The twins have been charged with conspiracy," Mulaudzi added.
"The Patel siblings have been charged with the violation of the
Firearms Control Act for now."
The twins' preliminary charge sheet states that their conspiracy
occurred between October 2015 and July 8 this year, local
newspaper the Times said on its online service.
In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a
daily news briefing that the United States applauded Hawks for
making the arrests and had "full confidence in the South African
judicial system to handle this case according to internationally
accepted best practices".
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, additional reporting by Mohammad
Zargham in Washington, writing by James Macharia; editing by
Ralph Boulton and Cynthia Osterman)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
