Today, Wednesday, the Anti-Terrorism Prosecution in Germany arrested two former soldiers who were planning to form a force of mercenaries and send them to fight in Yemen, and who were also planning to intervene in other conflicts.

The suspects were planning to form a "paramilitary unit of between 100 and 150 men" made up mainly of two policemen and former soldiers, according to a statement issued by the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe.

Police searched their apartments in Munich, the Calf district, near Stuttgart, and other locations.

The prosecutor's statement said that the defendants, identified as Arend-Adolf J and Achim A., decided in early 2021 to form a paramilitary unit from former members of the German army and police.

Salaries up to 40 thousand euros

The statement added that their main goal was for each mercenary to receive 40,000 euros (46,500 dollars) per month, and that they intended to offer those monthly salaries to former members of the German army or police.

They also - according to the statement - wanted to "calm down" the 6-year war between the Houthi group and the Yemeni government.

The prosecution said that Achim A. "tried persistently and over a long period to enter into a dialogue with officials in the Saudi government" in order to finance the project, and that he "tried in various ways to establish a channel of communication with Saudi government agencies and to obtain a meeting date to present their offer," but "all these Efforts were in vain.” No Saudi response was received.

Interfering in other conflicts

In addition to the mission in Yemen, the two men also planned to make the mercenary group's services available in other conflict locations.

One of the accused was responsible for recruiting mercenaries, and, according to the prosecution, he had already contacted at least 7 people for this purpose.

The federal prosecutor in charge of terrorism cases also indicated that "the two suspects were aware that the unit they would command would inevitably be required to commit criminal acts during its mission" if it intervened in Yemen.

"They were also expecting civilian deaths and injuries in combat operations," she added.

The prosecution indicated that the special forces arrested the two men on Wednesday morning in the Breisgau Hochschwarzwald (south) and Munich (south), and their apartments and other properties were searched.

According to the weekly Der Spiegel magazine, Arend-Adolf G and Achim A. were paratroopers in the German army, then worked for the controversial private security company Asgard.

In 2010, the company caused a stir in Berlin when it struck a contract with opponents of the Somali government.

In 2020, Asgard, who recruits former members of the German army and police, came under fire after German media revealed that she served as a platform for a vast network of the far-right.

The joining of soldiers, including members of the Special Forces, to a radical right-wing movement worries Angela Merkel's government, which has put racist and anti-Semitic "terrorism" at the forefront of threats.

The German army witnessed a series of events in the past years that damaged its reputation, and raised doubts about the extent of the spread of extremist elements among its members, so an entire company of the Special Forces was demobilized in 2020, after major thefts of ammunition were revealed in it, and many of its members performed the prohibited Nazi salute. during a party.

The war that erupted in Yemen in 2014 led to the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations, and caused the deaths of tens of thousands, most of them civilians, and the displacement of millions, according to international non-governmental organizations.