CAPE TOWN — The South African mercenaries jailed for their part in an Equatorial Guinea coup plot have arrived home, a security expert said yesterday.

The men were released on Tuesday after being pardoned by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

“They are back in the country,” said Henri Boshoff of the Institute for Security Studies.

“I don’t know where, and how; I just know they’re back.”

He said the men were probably flown in on Thursday night, and one could “make assumptions” about how this happened.

He said the Special Forces League, a private organisation that looks after the interests of veterans, had been arranging transport for the men. However, the South African international relations department then said it will organise the repatriation.

“Clearly the department made some arrangement,” Boshoff said. “It’s all very quiet …”