Fares Hassan Mana’a, the main arms dealer in Yemen, was captured last Friday from his house in Sana’a by the National Security. “Mana’a was arrested after he was besieged in his home in al-Sonaina district, west of Sana’a,” said Sheikh Abdosalam Zabiah, a member of the parliament and a Shiekh of Sa’adah Governorate.

The National Security took Mana’a to its headquarters, east of the old city, for interrogation. The area was restricted as Mana’a’s armed men came to set him free and then his entourage exchanged gun fires with the national security, eyewitnesses said. Yemen Observer tried to contact the national security, but was unable to get a response.

Mana’a was at the top of the Ministry of Interior’s arms dealers’ blacklist, issued in late 2009. The list was published on the daily state-run newspaper, al-Thawra along. Mana’a was a business mediator between the Yemeni authority and al-Houthis. He was last assigned by President Saleh to chair the Mediation Committee, known as the “Peace Committee in Sa’adah,” before the sixth war started.

Mana’a was the weaponry procurement officer in the Ministry of Defense until he was arrested.