Yemen’s Second Largest Weapons Dealer in Custody
Oh the Houthis “stole” 20 truckloads of weapons, and Faris failed to report it until they were well away. Lets see what happens now. No one ever goes to jail in Yemen. I had thought Faris Manna was Saleh’s partner, just like the oil smuggler Tawfiq Abdel Rahman Tawfiq Abdel Rahim. I wonder if the theft occured before or after the Defense Ministry imported a shipload of Chinese weapons destined for the rebels with forged documents. The reason Yemen keeps accusing Iran of supplying the Houthis is because without that red herring, it become clear that Yemeni officials are themselves selling weapons to the rebels. Its not just fall off, small deals and captured weapons going from the government side to the rebels. Hey, lets increase in military aid
al Arabiya: Yemen on Sunday arrested the second biggest arms dealer in the country just days after the capture of another top dealer, whose weapons depot was stolen by rebels fighting the government in the north, Al Arabiya TV reported.
Hussein Hussein was arrested along with his son “without confrontation” in northern Saada province and were transported by helicopter to the capital Sanaa, a local security source said
The arrest came four days after authorities arrested Sheikh Fares Manaa, a brother of Saada’s governor, and the biggest arms dealer in the country.
The government had put Manaa’s name at the top of a blacklist of arms dealers published on the front page of the official Ath-Thawra newspaper last October.
Houthi rebels stole from several arms depots belonging to Manaa a month ago, but he failed to inform the authorities immediately, allowing time for the rebels to escape with 20 truckloads of arms, according to the source.
The incident angered Sanaa, which has been fighting the Shiite rebels in the north of the country sporadically since 2004.
Manaa formerly headed a committee mediating in the war between the government and the Houthis
