Box 6. From Nicaragua to Angola: Saint Lucia Airways, D. Reinhard and D. Tokoph Saint Lucia Airways (or St. Lucia Airways, STL) was founded in 1975 and incorporated in St. Lucia1 (PO Box 253, Castries, St Lucia). In 1984, its apparent owner was Ms. Allison Lindo, a St. Lucia resident (according to a document filed in the US by STL in 1984).2 The company shares were acquired in 1984/85 by a St. Lucia lawyer, Michael Gordon. Actual director of the company was Dietrich Reinhardt, a German, born in June 1946, presently a resident of Florida and a self-declared personal friend of Angolan UNITA chief Savimbi3 St. Lucia Airways had offices in Miami and in Frankfurt (as “Airline Consultants”),4 and an operative office at the Ostend airport, Belgium,5 where its B-707s and L-100/20 routinely flew until April 1987 (Ostend airport records, 1984-1987). Until May 1987 the company was a contractor of the Belgian Sabena Airlines.6 After revelations of its involvement in the illegal arms shipments to Iran, the company apparently ceased operations in May 1987. Florida Corporations Registry further shows that a company called Unitrans Intl. Inc., based in Punta Gorda, was incorporated September 2, 1976, with Dietrich Reinhardt as president and director. The company was dissolved October 9, 1992. The same records also show that a company called Majus Aviation Inc. was incorporated August 22, 1988, same address and dissolution date as Unitrans. Dietrich Reinhardt and an attorney, Morris J. Turkelson (based in Littleton, CO), were listed as director and president, respectively. In addition to the flights to Iran, STL operated covert flights for the CIA in DR Congo and Angola. St. Lucia government records7 showed that January 29, March 21, April 5 and April 18, 1986, STL aircraft landed in St. Lucia en route to and from Kelly AFB and Cape Verde, a refueling point for flights to DR Congo, under assignment of the US Air Force. The aircraft (B-707s and the L-100) then reached or departed from DR Congo’s Kamina AFB. Over the years, STL operated various aircraft, registered in St. Lucia, Turks & Caicos and the United States. At the time of the flights to Iran, however, the company operated only two B-707s (r/n J6-SLF and N525EJ) and one L-100-20 (J6-SLO). The St. Lucia’s B-707 registered N525EJ was owned (like other aircraft in the St. Lucia’s fleet) by Aviation Consultants, a company incorporated in Texas September 25, 19818 by pilot David P. Tokoph (then domiciled in El Paso, TX), a Oliver North associate and rumored as the real owner of Saint Lucia Airways. Tokoph later set up two other companies, Aero Zambia and Grecoair, both involved in arms trafficking for the Angolan rebel army UNITA.9 In 1997, Tokoph acquired Interair South Africa,10 based in Johannesburg and Lanseria airports.
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St. Lucia is an independent state inside the Commonwealth of Nations. Gup, T., “Tiny St. Lucia Airline Used in Iran Missions”, Washington Post, February 24, 1987. St. Lucia premier, John Compton, in an interview to Gup, stated that Allison Lindo was a front owner. See Chambre des Representants de Belgique, Enquête Parlementaire (1989): p. 352. Gup, T., Washington Post (February 24, 1987). See: CleanOstend at www.cleanostend.com/ See: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique, Enquête Parlementaire (1989): p. 123. Gup, T., Washington Post (February 24, 1987). Texas Secretary of State, Corporations, file n. 57951500. David and Gary Tokoph and partners Katumbi and Katebe Katoto were at the center of the arms and diamonds business carried out through Grecoair (founded in 1988), Aero Zambia (Lusaka, 1994-1998), and Seagreen Air Transport (Antigua & Barbuda, closed in 1997). In 1999, the Angolan government formally accused both companies of supplying UNITA rebels and violating the UN embargo. See: Peleman, J., “The logistics of sanctions busting: the airborne component”. In Cilliers J., Dietrich, C. (eds), Angola’s War Economy. Pretoria, Institute for Security Studies, 2000, p. 299 and p.314, notes 15 and 16; and Hillgartner, G., “Aero Zambia mystery trip to Asmara,”Africa Online Holdings, May 25, 2001. According to Hillgartner and Aviation Safety Network, an Aero Zambia B-727 (r/n 5Y-BMW) was hit by an Ethiopian missiles in Asmara, at the start of the Ethiopian-Eritrea war. The article also quotes the Times of Zambia (February 14, 1999) reporting that a Grecoair B-707 (r/n 5Y-BNJ), with Aero Zambia liver, had uploaded arms coming from Belgium in Johannesburg for transport to Huambo’s UNITA headquarters in Angola. Further information in UN Security Council, Report of the Group of Experts on DR Congo, December 12, 2008, S/2008/773; IPIS website, CleanOstend website and Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers at www.nisat.org. Aero Transport DB and Interair website www.interair.co.za.
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