Men may face theft charges

Press, 26 July 1977, Page 6

Men may face theft charges

NZPA Honiara Three men. believed to be New Zealanders, who allegedly stole an aircraft in Cairns and flew it to the Solomon Islands, appeared in court yesterday charged with [illegal entry. The police prosecutor (Superintendent Nonge Batu) told a Honiara Court that the men were detained last Fri-; day after the allegedly stollen aircraft had crashed on {take-off at Mono Island in the north-west Solomons. i i Before the court were Rex■ Lloyd Moore, aged 24; Frederick Rose, aged 43; and John Bishop, aged 35. No pleas were entered on the charge of illegal entry. Superintendent Batu said' that the police were making! further investigations after., the discovery of arms, and) what he describes as “steal-! ing equipment” on the! crashed plane. The court adjourned the! matter until Friday and remanded the men in custody. A Honiara police spokesman said later that two Australian police officers had arrived in Honiara to carry out further investigations. A pilot known as Vaundry John Bishop, from Auckland, was charged three years ago with drug smuggling in the: British Solomons. Police found $190,001)! worth of hashish on a light' aircraft he was delivering from the United States to

New Zealand. Bishop arrivec back in Auckland in Febru ary after his release. An Auckland man. Fred erick Robert Rose, was ■ charged recently with the burglary of a Kingsland posi office in which $BOOO wa- \ taken. Rose was on bail — reporting to the Henderson police, but he failed to turn up a week ago. The third man, reported to be held in Honiara. Rex Moore, is also understood to Ibe a New Zealander. I Rose is known. in Auckland as the author of “New 1 Zealand Green" — a text on I the growing of marijuana, j Bishop was reported on release to have written a novel i “Connexion South Pacific" — {which he said was based on {the New Zealand drug scene.