Foreign Office quizzed mercenary before coup

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Sunday Times
Insight team

THE Foreign Office intervened in a bid to prevent a coup attempt in the west African state of Equatorial Guinea despite earlier denials that it knew about the plot.

Diplomats summoned Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer, Britain’s most notorious mercenary, to a meeting in London to express their disapproval a month before the attempt took place.

The former Scots Guards officer told officials he had no knowledge of any plot. Although Spicer was not involved, several of his former business partners were. It was hoped he would convey the British government’s misgivings to them.

The diplomats’ behind-the-scenes role raises new questions about how much the government knew of the plot and whether it did enough to stop a military action led by a British officer and partly financed by British-based businessmen.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1388633,00.html

SEE ALSO:
Profile: Ely Calil: Smelly, the missing essence in a coup plot
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1388635,00.html