[meteorite-list] Meteorite Man In Namibia Granted Bail

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:08:22 2004
Message-ID: <200209062001.NAA17176_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://allafrica.com/stories/200209060060.html

Meteorite Man Granted Bail
By Werner Menges
The Namibian (Windhoek)
September 6, 2002

Alleged meteorite smuggler Walter Horst was granted bail of N$10 000
yesterday, with stringent conditions attached, after close to a month in Police
custody.

Horst (58) has to report to the Police three times a day, is under effective house
arrest between 19h00 and 07h00, may not leave the Windhoek district without
permission from the Police, and has to surrender his travel documents to the
Police.

Magistrate Pietie Husselman ordered these conditions yesterday when he
granted Horst bail of N$10 000.

Horst had been in custody since he was arrested on August 9 on a charge that
he illegally removed four meteorites from the area where they had been found
and that he illegally tried to export them from Namibia.

Four of the space objects, weighing some 181 kg, were found in a crate Horst
had asked a local courier company to send to an address in Johannesburg, South
Africa. He allegedly lied to the company about the contents, saying he was
sending away an engine.

During his bail application in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court three weeks ago
Horst testified that he was a dealer in minerals and has been visiting the south of
Namibia on a monthly basis for the past 10 years as part of his work.

This is also the part of the country where most of Namibia's known meteorites
are found.

Namibian meteorites have over the past decade become much sought-after
internationally, fuelling a black market trade and illegal exports.

Countless of the objects from outer space fell to earth in the Gibeon area in the
world's largest known meteorite shower thousands of years ago.

Numerous Gibeon meteorites, which are protected by law in Namibia, have ended
up being offered for sale at astronomical prices in Europe and the United States
of America.

Horst is reported to be the only alleged meteorite dealer in Namibia so far to
have been arrested in connection with this illegal trade.

He has to appear in court again on October 17, both on charges connected to
his August 9 arrest and on a charge that he bought a stolen meteorite in a Police
operation on September 18 last year.

He paid bail yesterday.
Received on Fri 06 Sep 2002 04:01:41 PM PDT