While researching the story of "The Dogs of War", Frederick Forsyth pretended to be preparing a "coup d'état" against Equatorial Guinea on behalf of the Igbo people whom he passionately supports; he was told it would cost 240,000 US dollars. Five years after the 1973 attempted "coup d'état", Forsyth's research was subject of a feature story in "The Times", which posited he had commissioned the operation in earnest; many people believed he was planning a real "coup d'état" in Equatorial Guinea. Later, Forsyth said that arms dealers were the most frightening people he had ever met; the mercenaries Mike Hoare, Bob Denard, "Black Jack" Schramme and Rolf Steiner are all mentioned in the novel. According to UK National Archives documents released in 2005, in early 1973, several people in Gibraltar were planning a "coup d'état" against Equatorial Guinea, in the manner described in "The Dogs of War". Spain arrested several mercenaries in the Canary Islands on 23 January 1973, foiling the plot.