Tripoli, Oct 30 (ANI): Slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif has reportedly hired a group of South African mercenaries that would help him to move to a friendly African nation, it has emerged.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court, said that 39-year-old Saif had been in contact with them through intermediaries to discuss the possibility of surrendering for trial.
According to information received by the court, he had taken refuge with Tuareg nomads, who his family had helped financially in the past, in the borderlands between Libya and Niger, the Daily Mail reports.
"There are some people connected with him that are in touch with people connected with us ... it's through intermediaries," the paper quoted ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, as saying.
"We have some information that there is a mercenary group trying to help him to move to a different country, so we are trying to prevent this activity," Moreno-Ocampo said.
"We are also working with some states to see if we can disrupt this attempt. Some of them are South Africans allegedly," he added.
Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC was not making any deal with Saif al-Islam but was explaining through the contacts that he had to face trial because he had been indicted for war crimes.
Meanwhile, the ICC has warned Saif al-Islam, who is understandably anxious not to be captured by Libyan interim government forces, that it could order a mid-air interception if he tried to flee by plane from his Sahara desert hideout to a safe haven. (ANI)