Saadi Gaddafi eyes Australia to live

14 Feb 2012, 10:10 am   -   Source: AAP
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Saadi's connections have tried to get him into the Bahamas, Trinidad and Mexico but were not able to do so legally. (Getty)

Saadi's connections have tried to get him into the Bahamas, Trinidad and Mexico but were not able to do so legally. (Getty)

Saadi Gaddafi's bodyguard says his former boss would like to live in Australia after knockbacks from the Bahamas, Trinidad, and Mexico.

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A security contractor who claims to have served in the Australian army and helped Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi flee Libya says his former boss would like to live in Australia.

Gary Peters has told ABC's Lateline that he was in the 20-car convoy that sped through Libya's Southern Desert to get Saadi, his family and associates to safety after the regime collapsed last August.

Peters, who counts Saadi not just as a client but as a friend, says the former Libyan soccer player will look for another country in which to live once things settle down in Libya.

Half jokingly, Peters, who lives in Canada, says Saadi might look to live in Australia.

Saadi visited Sydney in 2002 when Peters first met him and was assigned to guard him.

"He loves Australia, he loves Canada as well but he can't come here," Peters said.

Saadi's connections had tried to get him into the Bahamas, Trinidad and Mexico but were not able to do so legally.

"I always found him to be polite, very outgoing, very sociable," Peters said od Saadi.

But in Muammar Gaddafi's presence, the atmosphere was always intimidating.

"(Gaddafi) knew what he wanted and he got what he wanted," Peters said.

"Everybody bowed down to whatever he wanted."

After delivering Saadi to Niger, Peters went back into Libya heading for Tunisia and got engaged in a firefight where he and another bodyguard were shot.

He said the bullet was removed from his shoulder at a later stage but the wound started bleeding heavily while he was on a plane back to Canada.

Lateline said the Australian Defence Force had no record of Peters ever serving with them.

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