German justice announced, Wednesday, October 20, the arrest of two former Bundeswehr soldiers suspected of having wanted to set up “a terrorist organization” through the creation of a paramilitary commando.
The two men arrested on Wednesday had started preparations to create “a paramilitary unit of 100 to 150 men”, composed of former police officers or soldiers whom they intended to involve in the civil war underway in Yemen, according to a press release from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe.
They declared “wanting to pacify the civil war zone and force peace negotiations between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government”, specified the press release. In this context, one of the suspects Achim A. “tried persistently and over a long period of time to engage in dialogue with Saudi government officials” in order to finance the project.
“He tried in various ways to establish a channel of communication with Saudi government agencies and to secure a meeting date for the submission of their bid.”, writes the prosecution.
However, “All these efforts were in vain as the Saudi government agencies contacted showed no reaction”. Beyond the deployment in Yemen, the two suspects wanted to offer the services of their “private military company” in other conflicts.
One of the two accused was responsible for recruiting mercenaries and he had, according to justice, already contacted at least seven people for this purpose. To former members of the Bundeswehr or former police officers, he wanted to offer monthly salaries of around 40,000 euros, says the prosecution.
Regarding a possible intervention in Yemen, “the two suspects knew that the unit they were to command would inevitably be called upon to commit murderous acts during their mission”, writes the federal prosecutor’s office responsible for terrorism cases. “In addition, they expected civilians to be killed and injured in combat operations as well.”