Illegal Exporting of Military Equipment to South Africa
On 2 April 1984, four South Africans and three British nationals were arrested in the United Kingdom and charged with illegally exporting high-pressure gas cylinders and magnetrons to South Africa. Magnetrons were vital components of modern radar systems, while the gas cylinders had utility in a potential nuclear industry.
The four South Africans, which came to be known as the “Coventry Four”, were all employees of Armscor. These four men were Hendrik Botha, Stephanus de Jager, Jacobus Le Grange and William Meterlerkamp. They were all senior officials and consultants for Armscor, and its guided weapons subsidiary, Kentron, and had been arrested following a Customs raid on a London hotel at the end of March 1984. They had been taken to Coventry, where they had been charged and remanded in custody. The Pretoria regime reacted angrily by recalling the then Ambassador the United Kingdom, Marais Steyn, for consultations.
After spending ten days in custody, they were released under stringent bail conditions and guarantees from the South African Embassy, after being granted bail of £400,000. The three Englishmen who were arrested with the South Africans, who were Michael Swann, Derek Salt and Michael Henry Gardiner, were also released on bail as they were due to appear in court on 22 May 1984.
On 22 May 1984, a few days before the apartheid President of South Africa, P.W. Botha, was to visit the United Kingdom
