Viktor Bout Arrested in Thailand
March 6th, 2008Via: CNN:
For years, Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout has made millions of dollars allegedly delivering weapons and ammunition to warlords and militants. Officials believe many of his activities may be illegal, and on Thursday, Thai police announced his arrest.
Authorities say Viktor Bout, seen in this 2002 image, has sold arms to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Bout, 41, has made his deliveries to Africa, Asia and the Mideast, using obsolete or surplus Soviet-era cargo planes.
A formal announcement on his arrest is expected later in the day in New York.
He was picked up in Bangkok but neither police nor U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Cynthia Brown had details on his arrest.
“We can confirm he has been arrested in Bangkok, and we congratulate the Thai authorities on making this arrest,” Brown said.
Intelligence agencies around the world have tracked Bout for years. While some of his work has been legitimate, most has not.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has a warrant for Bout’s arrest, and the United States could request extradition, but the details are still being worked out, a U.S. government official told CNN.
According to U.S. officials, Bout — a former Soviet air force officer who speaks multiple languages — has what is reputed to be the largest private fleet of Soviet-era cargo aircraft in the world.
Bout acquired the planes shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the U.S. Department of Treasury said in 2005.
At that time, the U.S. Treasury announced it was freezing the assets of Bout and his associates who are all tied to former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Taylor is currently on trial at the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague.
Intelligence officials said he shipped large quantities of small arms to civil wars across Africa and Asia, often taking diamonds in payment from West African fighters.
British intelligence officials found evidence in Afghanistan that Bout had shipped arms to the Taliban and al Qaeda, as well as circumstantial evidence that he shipped weapons technology into Iraq.
And the U.S. government said it received information that Bout profited $50 million from supplying the Taliban with military equipment when they ruled Afghanistan.
Bout — who is said to be the inspiration for Nicholas Cage’s character in the movie, “Lord of War” — told CNN in an interview in 2002 that he never sold arms to the Taliban or the al Qaeda terrorist network. He also denied providing weapons and missile guidance technology to Iraq.
Bout said his air transport company is legitimate, and he ferried a variety of cargo to Africa and to Afghanistan since 1992.
He denied any of it was done illegally and also denied he was paid in so-called “blood diamonds” from Africa.
To bad. I was hoping the terrrrists would have arrested him first, for trafficking arms for the Pentagon.