Planespotter's Turkey trip probed

The leader of the 12 British planespotters being held in Greece recently visited the country's arch enemy Turkey as a guest of its armed forces.

Paul Coppin, 45, said there was "no secret" about his week-long trip to visit a Turkish air show in May. The revelation, which was made public by the Greek secret service, has been condemned as a flagrant attempt to frame Mr Coppin as a spy.

There is a history of bitter rivalry between the two eastern Mediterranean countries, which erupted most recently during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. It is reported in the Greek press that the authorities are investigating links between Mr Coppin and the Turkish intelligence services, fearing he may have passed on information.

But Mr Coppin, the owner of Touchdown Tours which organised the plane-spotting trip, denies the allegations and says he visited the air base at Ismir as an accredited aviation journalist. He was briefly detained by Turkish intelligence when one of his party was seen taking photographs. But he was immediately released after explaining that he was a planespotter, he claims.

The evidence against the planespotters is due to be presented to three judges today. But Richard Howitt MEP, who has visited the 11 British men being held in Nafplion prison, near Athens, warned that any report linking the 45-year-old to Turkey could damage his chances of winning early release.

He said: "Given the long-standing enmity with Turkey, this report is bound to have a damaging effect in Greece itself. Yet I believe it is just one more example of the rumours and misinformation thrown up because of the inordinate delay in dealing with this case." He said Mr Coppin feared being made a scapegoat.

The news comes after relatives of the group flew to Greece to fight for their release. Mr Howitt said he was still confident every group member would be freed once the evidence was heard in open court. But if the group are to stand trial it could take up to a year for the case to come to court and the spying charges carry a maximum jail sentence of 20 years. The group of 12 Britons and two Dutchmen were arrested on 8 November.

? Greece's Right-wing press yesterday attacked the the British press and politicians over the issue. In front-page banner headlines, newspapers accused British politicians and some media of orchestrating a campaign against Greece designed to harm its diplomatic, tourism and trading interests.

What the Greek papers say