vilhelm. this them in the small intimate i mean from merton signed on with the egyptians in march 951. 1 of many german military advisors and trainers and i said that this work paid extremely well the stuff was taught. the matins family now lived in cairo in a city that in the early fifty's was rapidly developing into a modern metropolis. but militants often returned to west germany to develop his business contacts begin to documents show that the diamond corp even gave him a car for his personal use ursula matins noted that it was a mistake because of course we asked her why he needed such an expensive car. the 1st. i have no idea. it was a status symbol something that would show others that he was important or other and

from the beginning we always had mislaid scarse. on. the egypt merchants built the foundation for his future career as a weapons dealer his business contacts brought him to the attention of the b.m.d. the west german intelligence service. in early 1955 militants traveled for several months across the middle east including a stop in saudi arabia. saudi king faisal became an important client. met him soon delivered warships to him. he traveled as far as pakistan where he later sold the government fighter jets for the war with india. a number of post-colonial states were now building up their military forces. during his travels matins met with

a number of former nazis who worked as military advisors as well as top security officials including titled to newsy of saudi arabia and mohammad of egypt. the indie documents indicate that met in strip was financed by german businesses including diamonds the company has so far not responded to our request for comment . after militants returned to braman he came up with a plan to use part of the port as a base for weapons exports. at the same time the b.n. deal was developing a secret plan to export surplus weapons. the project was led by a man known at the time by his code name to all. warm had an office at b.m.d. headquarters near munich and soon began a series of regular meetings with matins. the former s.s.

man matins needed the b.m.d. for his ambitious plans and the b. and d. needed matins because he knew who wanted the weapons. but who was sure. as bush norm stone is actually how much funding of the head of the b.n. these procurement departments of each of them to make this was a unique situation from the 2 of the bundeswehr was in the process of updating a number of its weapons systems and that was going to create a lot of surplus. in january 1965 shredding up as to sex. terry to come to his office to take notes. b.m.d. president guillen was there. outlined the creation of a company to sell the surplus weapons. the company will have to civilians as owners to conceal the b.s.d.'s participation. claimant would play

a key role. the company will set up storage facilities near the port all the company's profits will go to the b. and d. . the letter was actually a transcript of a top secret discussion that spending are having with a senior official at the defense ministry. to be india is in the zone galen's time as b. and d. chief was drawing to a close i was in the agency was trying to spread its influence to the far east africa and latin america and let her. through the way to do that was to sell weapons to countries in those regions secretly. despite the fact that such sales were prohibited by west german law that ones would export he had good went on a hunt to communist. the b.m.d.

needed an experience weapons dealer like militants to make it all happen. and that in $5.00 to $30.00 in the mountains was their 1st choice when looking for a shady weapons dealer in the as the vote had the international connections and the support of the cia. a branch of the b.m.d. archives and the berlin district of least ephedra some declassified documents on matters are stored here. after months of negotiations we were finally allowed to see them. there was a portrait of the german president. and one of the 100 gillan. despite his nazi past the americans made him the 1st head of the b. and d. he served until 968. it was during his period in office that the b.m.d. was involved in arms deals. this is the new b. and d. headquarters complex in berlin the agency allowed us to review 24 declassified files on mittens but declined to say how much top secret material actually has on

him. there's information here on militants weapons exports his work with west german companies and the conflicts in which those weapons were used. court documents later indicated that militants closely coordinated his activities with the b. n.t. . there are also documents on militants proposal to develop a port facility in raymond which he would then use to export surplus bonus fair weapons. the company to be created by the b.m.d. will be known as mavic. this strawman shows the site where matins wanted to set up the new business the part of the brain that. he proposed to use prison inmates as workers

a bank in mecca would handle the finances. met its ambitious plans were never finalized but weapons were transported. merchants had even purchased 2 ships for the purpose both were built at the visa shipyard and by him one was called the very hot dog. the other was the billet todd. matins used these ships to deliver weapons on behalf of the b.m.d. . when the vera tar carry missiles to pakistan in 1966 matins and the b. and d. were informed. at the same time the billet all transported fighter planes to india with false documents at the time india and pakistan were at war. americans had acquired the weapons from the west german army and delivered them to enemies the shipments were illegal under west german law and international law but

covered up by the b.m.d. matins was needed for exactly this purpose. but it's hard to do you see had business contacts that allow them to falsify and use declarations for the full value of the shipments bound for saudi arabia where allegedly routed through iran weapons for india allegedly went through italy 1st you would need excellent connections as a weapons dealer to do that. the core of merton's empire was a company located near bonn merchants export or merrick's for short. there was also american subsidiary in switzerland with nontransparent business structures . historian peter hama schmidt has a number of merrick's files the documents for example indicate that klaus bobby a former nazi who fled to south america after the war also bought surplus west german weapons from merrick's.

numerics us for america was so to speak an extension of the federal government. to snobbish and it worked with the b. and d. and shipped weapons through various channels to latin america.