JOHANNESBURG, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Men accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea sought to lure the oil-rich country's president to the airport with new luxury 4x4 vehicles and then kidnap him, a South African court heard on Wednesday. Crause Steyl, a state witness in South Africa's case against suspected mercenaries, said the coup was to take place once Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was whisked out of the country, the SAPA news agency said. Obiang -- who himself seized power in a coup in the tiny West African nation in 1979 -- was to have been brought to the airport by accused ringleader Nick du Toit with the promise that a shipment of new 4x4s was on its way. "The plan was that there would be armed men on the plane between the vehicles, backed by the force from South Africa," SAPA quoted Steyl as telling the Pretoria court. Obiang was to be overpowered and flown out of the country, while exiled opposition politician Severo Moto was to be flown in from Spain, Steyl said. Du Toit, a South African, is among 11 men serving sentences of between 13 and 34 years in jail in Equatorial Guinea for their part in the 2004 plot. Altogether dozens of men, mostly holders of South African passports, were arrested for the scheme both in Equatorial Guinea and in Zimbabwe, which exposed the plot when it seized a plane full of the suspected mercenaries which had stopped in Harare. Steyl turned state witness after a plea bargain with South African prosecutors, who are hoping to use the case to emphasise the government's determination to stop its citizens from undertaking mercenary work against African governments. Many ex-military personnel from South Africa's former white apartheid government have found work as mercenaries and paid security in various African countries as well as places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Steyl told the court that the original coup plan aimed to topple Obiang in January 2004, with one aircraft from South Africa carrying South African "security people", and another from Uganda with vehicles and weapons, SAPA said. The trial was adjourned to Thursday before Steyl could say why the coup plot was delayed. The eight accused, who were originally arrested in Zimbabwe and later deported to South Africa, have entered not guilty pleas. The suspected plot has attracted widespread media interest, particularly after Mark Thatcher, the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, pleaded guilty in a South African court to helping finance part of the scheme. Thatcher avoided jail under a plea bargain with prosecutors.
