Two former German soldiers were arrested on suspicion of attempting to form a terrorist mercenary force to fight the civil war in Yemen, prosecutors say.
Arend-Adolf G and Achim A are accused of terrorism following police raids in southern Germany on Wednesday.
Presumably they planned to recruit up to 150 men for a private army made up of former police officers and soldiers.
They wanted to offer their services to the Saudi Arabian government for illegal missions in Yemen, prosecutors said.
Yemen has been ravaged by a civil war between the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia and the Houthi armed movement since 2014.
Saudi Arabia entered the civil war in 2015 shortly after the capture of the capital, Sanaa, by the Iranian-backed Houthis.
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The accused former soldiers wanted Saudi Arabia to finance their private operations in Yemen, prosecutors in Germany said. The men tried to approach Saudi Arabian government agencies, but received no response and their efforts were unsuccessful.
In a statement, federal prosecutors outlined broad and serious charges against the two “bosses”, who had “military knowledge and skills.”
Prosecutors say Arend-Adolf G and Achim A decided to establish a mercenary force under their sole command in early 2021. They planned to pay each member of their unit a salary of approximately € 40,000 (£ 33,700; $ 46,400) per month for their services, prosecutors said.
Arend-Adolf G has already tried to recruit at least seven people.
German magazine Spiegel, which first reported the arrests, said the mercenary force should have attacked and captured areas held by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Arend-Adolf G and Achim A “expect civilians to be killed and injured in connection with the fighting” in Yemen, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also suspect that the accused men wanted to advertise their military service for deployments in other conflicts.
Citing sources, Spiegel said a tip from the German Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) put investigators on the trail of the men.
One of the accused was arrested in Munich and the other in the southwestern district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Germany. Their apartments in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg were searched.
The former soldiers are expected to appear in court on Wednesday for a pre-trial detention hearing.
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