A lawsuit has revealed serious allegations against a mercenary group based in San Diego, stating they tortured and killed American citizens over stolen cash in Yemen.
Zena Alsanabani is suing Spear, a mercenary group, following the death of her brother, Abdulmalek Anwar Alsanabani, a 25-year-old from Fresno.
She asserts that his death inflicted “severe mental and psychological injuries” on her, including anxiety, shock, and emotional distress.
Alsanabani is seeking compensatory damages, though the exact amount will be determined in court.
Prior lawsuits indicate that Spear was formed by Abraham Golan, an ex-U.S. Special Forces member who reportedly earned $1.5 million monthly plus bonuses for taking out enemies in the UAE.
Abdulmalek, a student visiting family, found himself needing to travel through Aden International Airport, as the capital’s airport was shut down.
Despite being in Aden, the region is known to be controlled by the Emirates-backed Southern Transitional Council, which allegedly employs mercenaries, as stated in Zena’s claim.
The complaint alleges that Spear provided support to the Southern Transitional Council along with another mercenary group, Reflex.
Reflex, led by security expert Eric Prince, is said to have received $528 million to establish a private mercenary force.
Reports suggest that Abdulmalek was stopped at a city council checkpoint while driving to visit relatives. He was found with U.S. dollars, leading the mercenaries to rob, torture, and ultimately kill him on September 11, 2021.
When his parents went to see him in the hospital, they allegedly discovered visible signs of torture along with bullet wounds on his body.
In an earlier lawsuit, it was revealed that in 2015, the UAE hired Spear for $1.5 million per month to eliminate its “kill list” targets.
This list reportedly contained 23 individuals’ names and photographs, which were entrusted to Golan’s assassination team.
The chief operating officer of Spear, Isaac Gilmore, acknowledged that the hit squad proceeded without questioning the identities on the list.
The complaint mentions that Golan assembled a team of mainly former military personnel at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on December 14, 2015, just hours before their arrival in Yemen.
Golan explained the mission details, and participants were reportedly informed that they could keep the $20,000 advance if they opted out of the operation, with no repercussions.
Interestingly, every participant chose to stay on board.
The team attempted to collaborate with Ansaf Ali Mayo but didn’t succeed.
Mayo, a member of the Yemeni House of Representatives, is also suing Golan, Gilmore, and fellow Spear member Dale Comstock over assassination attempts against him.
Comstock, another former U.S. Army Special Forces operative, was paid $40,000 monthly, plus bonuses, for leading the assassination efforts, which included a failed attempt to target Mayo.
Reports indicate that just before an explosion was to take place, Mayo received a warning and managed to escape.
Mayo, who is associated with Yemen’s second-largest political group, the al-Islah party, found himself on the exclusion list because of ties to the UAE’s adversary, the Muslim Brotherhood.
The group’s plan involved detonating explosives at the al-Islah party headquarters in Aden and subsequently targeting survivors with firearms.
Dramatic drone footage documented the attempted assassination. Comstock allegedly set off explosives and engaged in gunfire at the location.
A significant explosion rocked the building, followed by a second explosion from a booby-trapped vehicle.
Comstock purportedly said, “He opened the door and threw two or three grenades and was going to go in there and shoot everyone,” according to the complaint.
Fortunately for Mayo, he evaded harm by fleeing just moments before destruction unfolded.
He claims to have experienced “psychological and emotional trauma” from this incident and is now in exile in Saudi Arabia.
Golan supposedly orchestrated the assassination efforts while living in a lavish $7 million mansion in the UAE, equipped with upscale amenities.
