Mercenary and Coup Plotter dies

Former British army officer and mercenary Simon Mann, who was part of an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea in 2004, died of a heart attack during exercise, friends confirmed.

The 72-year-old made millions of pounds against protecting companies in conflict zones before participating in the failed attempt to overthrow the ruler of the West African nation.

Mann was sentenced to 34 years in prison for arms costs and later said that he had been the “manager, not the architect” of the scheme.

In 2009 the ex-SAS command grace was granted, released and given 48 hours to leave the country.

The plot had been an attempt to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema – when Mann and co -Omsamerders said that the goal was to install banished opposition leader Severo Moto.

It was discovered after the police in the capital of Zimbabwe Harare seized a plane that had flown from South Africa.

Mann and more than 60 others were arrested, in the midst of claims that they were mercenaries.

They said they gave security for a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mann went to private boys’ school Eton before studying at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy and then became a member of the Scottish guards.

He became a member of the SAS – the Special Forces unit of the army – and rose by the ranks to become a commander.

In 2011 he said that the attempted coup in equatorial guinea – who saw him arrested with colleague -rental people after trying to load weapons on a plane in Zimbabwe – was thwarted by the CIA.

After having broadcast three years of his 34-year prison sentence in Zimbabwe, he was moved to the Black Beach prison in Equatorial Guinea.

In 2011 he said about that movement that “friends, family and enemies” had told him “if that happened, you’ve had it, you’re a dead man”.

After he was graceed and released, he expressed regret of what he had done, and said “no matter how good the money is”, the moral matter “must stack himself”.