Hans Otto Meyer
 Hans Otto Meyer    (businessman, shipowner, spook, deep state operative) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1925 |
| Died | 2002 (Age 76) |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Member of | Norwegian Shipowners' Association |
| Interests | Norway/Stay Behind |
Spooky Norwegian businessman and ship owner whose house was found to have a secret Gladio arms cache in 1978. | |
Hans Otto Meyer was a Norwegian shipowner and Stay Behind operative,[1] who was exposed when the police found a large weapons cache in a bunker under his house.
World War II
During WW2, he was a navy officer working from London with covert operations (SOE?) during the war.
Cold War
After the war, Meyer's shipping lines were used by British naval intelligence to photograph harbours and the coast in Warsaw Pact nations in the Black Sea.
1978 Raid
In November 1978, police received tips of a clandestine liquor factory on Meyer's property on the inaccessible and craggy Gjeterøya island outside Oslo. After the discovery of the liquor factory (a small-scale operation run by the janitor, allegedly without approval), the police decided to investigate Hans Otto Meyer's private mansion in Oslo.
In the Oslo mansion, again on a tip, they found a secret entrance to a bunker full of weapons, equipment and ammunition enough to equip more than a hundred men, and an advanced radio device that raised its antenna through the stovepipe at transmission. The secret entrance through the fireplace was covered by cameras and an automatic machine gun trap. Meyer claimed he kept the weapons as a participant in a covert Stay Behind army under the Defense Intelligence Service (Norwegian: Forsvarets etterretningstjeneste).
During the raid, the police had refused to call the emergency number given by Meyer, and when the police a few hours contacted their intelligence liaison, he again gets in touch the Stay Behind leadership. Making a huge PR error, the Stay Behind leadership opted for full denial, implying the stockpile was a private matter, a tactic that turned out massively to their disadvantage. A case that could have been brushed under the carpet as a national security matter, was now widely discussed in the press, before the defense leadership anyway had to backtrack their denial a few days later.
In the political sphere, in the Norwegian parliament, the Minister of Defense Rolf Hansen at first denied that Meyer was affiliated with the intelligence services, but had later to backtrack, and confirm that Meyer had been associated with the Stay Behind network, indicating that the Minister of Defense was never fully briefed on the case.
Afterwards, Meyer was kicked out in the cold. In a 1993 interview, Meyer bitterly said he was never contacted by his superiors afterwards, "no handshake, not a single small apology". He regarded the policeman who led the raid, Benedict de Vibe, as a traitor. And he stated that he wasn't the only operator: "Oslo is full of such bunkers and facilities. Oslo is hollow".[2]
- There are a few loose threads, noticeably who gave the police the tip of the bunker only known to 5 or 6 people, and why?
Mey-Air
Meyer founded and operated Mey-Air[3], and a Norwegian charter airline with 9 aircraft, including a seaplane, based at Fornebu airport. The airline folded after 4 years of service (1970-74).
References
- ↑ https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/48928/when-sean-connery-went-to-norway-and-a-saw-a-guerilla-weapons-cashe/
- ↑ Ronald Bye and Finn Sjue, Norges Hemmelige Hær, page 22
- ↑ https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mey-Air
