Military contractors posing as private security guards left Malta for Libya for a covert operation that never ended up taking place, a senior government source has said. 

A source involved in monitoring Malta’s compliance with international law said that the covert operation last June is believed to have been commissioned by Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, who sought to use private military firms as part of his efforts to take the Libyan capital of Tripoli. 

Their mission is believed to have been to intercept a shipment of weapons destined for Haftar’s military rivals.  

In April, Times of Malta reported that Malta-based companies were being scrutinised by authorities on the suspicion of having transported arms and perhaps even private military contractors into Libya during the war, using Malta as a departure point.  

The situation in Libya has been deteriorating since military commander General Haftar launched an offensive on Tripoli in April 2019.

After months of fighting, forces aligned with the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, have been scrambling to hold the capital.

An $80 million mission

On Monday the New York Times quoted United Nations sources who said an intelligence report, submitted to the Security Council in February, had indicated that two former British marines piloted a pair of military-grade inflatable boats from Malta to Libya and back again as part of the operation.

According to the report, six helicopters were also flown in from Botswana using falsified papers. The rest of the military team were from South Africa, Britain, Australia and the United States. 

The New York Times also reported that UN investigators later determined that the military contractors’ mission, codenamed Operation Opus, was set to earn them $80 million. 

However, when an alleged dispute erupted with Haftar over the quality of the aircraft to be used in the clandestine operation, the mercenaries scrambled for their boats and fled back to Malta.  

Times of Malta's government source, and another also privy to the details, confirmed that the Maltese authorities had the same information and had been collaborating with international partners on the matter for several months. 

"It fizzled out," one source said. 

Arms dealer denies wrongdoing

One of the two vessels which left from Malta for the mission. Inset: Arms dealer James Fenech.One of the two vessels which left from Malta for the mission. Inset: Arms dealer James Fenech.

In April, Maltese arms dealer James Fenech was among five men charged in court in Valletta with violating EU sanctions on Libya. 

According to the prosecution, Fenech, 41, allegedly used two military-grade rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) to circumvent international sanctions and transport personnel into and out of war-torn Libya without notifying the relevant authorities. 

Sources close to the police and national security investigation have conceded with Times of Malta that they only caught the matter by chance, when the contractors came into Malta.  

Fenech’s chartering company Sovereign Charters Limited has denied any involvement in money laundering or military dealings. 

Contacted on Monday, a lawyer for Mr Fenech said that the first hearing of his client’s case was scheduled for Tuesday.

He insisted his client had done nothing wrong, that due diligence had been carried out by a private firm on the clients before the boats had been leased.  

Interest in Fenech’s chartering activities began when a mysterious Malta-registered boat found in the harbour of Zwetina, Libya, some 150 kilometres south of Benghazi last August, raised suspicion that it was being used to sneak people in and out of the country, prompting the Libyan authorities to launch an investigation.

Fenech’s Fieldsports Ltd is an arms dealing company that supplies military and tactical equipment to the highest bidder. 

The company had once partnered with infamous former US private militia operator Erik Prince, in a venture that was reportedly set to produce and sell ammunition. 

A 2007 report by the European Parliament had found that Malta had, at the time, been the operational base for Prince’s private militia company, formerly known as Blackwater. 

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