Russian "Lord of War" Arrested

[BKK]

Thailand holds 'top arms dealer'

Mr Bout is alleged to have sold weapons in many countries
A Russian man suspected of being one of the world's biggest illegal arms dealers has been arrested in Thailand.
Viktor Bout - who has been dubbed the "merchant of death" - was picked up by police at a luxury hotel in Bangkok.

The Thai authorities acted on a warrant issued by the US, which accuses Mr Bout of supplying arms to Colombian rebels.

He has also been accused of breaking UN embargoes on arms sales to many countries from central Asia to Africa, but has never been prosecuted.

When Belgium and Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for him in 2002, Mr Bout returned to Russia, where he was protected from extradition by the country's constitution.

Deportation

Lt Gen Pongpat Chayapan, head of the Thai Crime Suppressino Bureau, said Mr Bout was arrested at a hotel in Bangkok shortly after he arrived in Thailand while attempting to "procure weapons for Colombia's Farc rebels".


We will take legal action against him here, before deporting him to face trial in another country

Lt Gen Pongpat Chayapan,
Thai Crime Suppressino Bureau
The left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) have been seeking to overthrow the Colombian government for more than four decades.

"We have followed him for several months. He just came back to Thailand today," Gen Pongpat said.

"We will take legal action against him here, before deporting him to face trial in another country, likely the US."

The US warrant stemmed from an earlier one issued by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), he said.

Unconfirmed US media reports say Mr Bout was arrested during negotiations to sell weapons in a sting orchestrated by a DEA special operations unit.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Bangkok congratulated Thai police on the arrest, but could not provide any details about the possible role of US officials.

The US treasury department imposed sanctions on Mr Bout's businesses in October 2006, seizing his fleet of cargo planes and freezing many of his assets.

UN embargoes

Mr Bout, 41, is said to have graduated from Moscow's military institute in the early 1990s and was a major in the Soviet KGB.

According to a 2007 book about him - entitled Merchant of Death - Money, Guns, Planes and the Man Who Makes War Possible - he set up a network of companies using redundant Soviet military planes.

A 2005 report by the human rights group, Amnesty International, said Mr Bout was "the most prominent foreign businessman" breaking UN embargoes on arms sales to countries such as Bulgaria, Slovakia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

He has also been accused of supplying weapons to supporters of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Taleban in Afghanistan and even al-Qaeda during the 1990s.

Mr Bout's life is believed to have been the inspiration for Nicolas Cage's character in the 2005 film, Lord of War.

Although he has been investigated by the authorities in several countries, Mr Bout has never been prosecuted for arms dealing.

[Greenhat]

Trial in the US?

Say jail time, Mr. Bout.

[Spinner]

Early in OIF, a lot of his planes were flying in supplies to BIAP.

A book I'm currently reading, Merchant of death : money, guns, planes, and the man who makes war possible by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, gives a pretty good account of what he's been up to over the last couple of decades.

[JRB11]

I imagine some government types are sweating bullets in many countries, hoping he doesn't try ane cut a deal. May turn up hanging in his cell, from an apparent "suicide".

[MixedLoad]

Early in OIF, a lot of his planes were flying in supplies to BIAP.

A book I'm currently reading, Merchant of death : money, guns, planes, and the man who makes war possible by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, gives a pretty good account of what he's been up to over the last couple of decades.

I read that book a few months back and found it fascinating. He is an illusive personality, but he becomes PNG real fast wherever he's been.

[BKK]

Appears he was offering 100 Surface to Air Missiles to the FARC. Hopefully he will cough up a lot of other people on his way to Jail.

International Arms Dealer Charged in U.S. with
Conspiracy to Provide Surface-to-Air Missiles and
other Weapons to a Foreign Terrorist Organization

Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of
New York, and Michele M. Leonhart, the Acting Administrator of the United
States Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"), announced today the
unsealing of charges against Viktor Bout, a/k/a "Boris," a/k/a "Victor
Anatoliyevich Bout," a/k/a "Victor But," a/k/a "Viktor Budd," a/k/a "Viktor
Butt," a/k/a "Viktor Bulakin," a/k/a "Vadim Markovich Aminov," an
international arms dealer, and his associate Andrew Smulian for conspiring
to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia (the "FARC") - a designated foreign terrorist
organization based in Colombia. Bout was arrested yesterday by Thai
authorities in Bangkok. According to the Complaint unsealed today in
Manhattan federal court:

Between November 2007 and February 2008, Bout and Smulian agreed to sell to
the FARC millions of dollars worth of weapons -- including surface-to-air
missile systems ("SAMs") and armor piercing rocket launchers. During a
series of recorded telephone calls and emails, Bout and Smulian agreed to
sell the weapons to two confidential sources working with the DEA (the
"CSs"), who held themselves out as FARC representatives acquiring these
weapons for the FARC for use in Colombia.

In addition, during a series of consensually recorded meetings in Romania,
Smulian advised the CSs, among other things, that: (1) Bout had 100 SAMs
available immediately; (2) Bout could also provide helicopters and armor
piercing rocket launchers; (3) Bout could arrange to have a flight crew
airdrop the weapons into Colombian territory using combat parachutes; and
(4) Bout and Smulian would charge the CSs $5 million to transport the
weapons. During one of the meetings with the CSs, Smulian provided one of
the CSs with a digital memory stick that contained an article about Bout,
and documents containing photographs and specifications for the SAMs and
armor piercing rocket launchers that Smulian had previously said Bout could
provide.

In between his meetings with the CSs, Smulian spoke to Bout over a cellphone
provided to him by one of the CSs at the direction of the DEA. These
conversations between Smulian and Bout were legally intercepted by foreign
authorities. During one of these conversations, Bout and Smulian discussed
the $5 million delivery fee for the weapons. Bout also told Smulian, in
coded language, that the weapons requested by the CSs were ready to be
delivered. Subsequent to these phone calls with Smulian, Bout engaged in
multiple recorded phone calls with one of the CSs during which they arranged
the March 6, 2008 meeting in Bangkok.

Bout and Smulian are charged with conspiracy to provide material support or
resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. If convicted, the
defendants each face a maximum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment.

The U.S. plans to pursue the extradition of Bout from Thailand.

The arrest of Bout yesterday was the result of close cooperation between the
Royal Thai Police and the DEA. Also cooperating in this international
enforcement operation were the Romanian Border Police, the Romanian
Prosecutor's Office Attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the
Korps Politie Curacao of the Netherlands Antilles, and the Danish National
Police Security Services.

Mr. Garcia praised the investigative work of the DEA and thanked the Royal
Thai Police for their assistance. Mr. Garcia also thanked the Romanian
Border Police, the Romanian Prosecutor's Office Attached to the High Court
of Cassation and Justice, the Korps Politie Curacao of the Netherlands
Antilles, and the Danish National Police Security Services, for their
cooperation, and thanked the U.S. Department of Justice Office of
International Affairs.

"Viktor Bout and Andrew Smulian agreed to arm terrorists with high-powered
weapons that have fueled some of the most violent conflicts in recent
memory," said U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia. "Today, they face charges in
the United States for agreeing to provide weapons to a terrorist
organization that has threatened, and continues to threaten, American
interests."

"DEA and our partners now have this terrorist supporter in custody where he
can no longer ply his deadly trade," said DEA Acting Administrator Michele
M. Leonhart. "This arms trafficker was poised to arm a narco-terrorist
organization, but he now faces justice in the United States."

Assistant United States Attorneys Anjan Sahni and Brendan R. McGuire are in
charge of the prosecutions.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations and the
defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty

Attached is the text of the DOJ complaint against Viktor and Andrew

[ET1/ss nuke]

How do you airdrop a helicopter? :confused:

[Massgrunt]

How do you airdrop a helicopter? :confused:
Very carefully...

[Silverbullet]

Guess he should have ensured his data and schedule wasn't on a FARC computer and cell phone.........

[BKK]

SB, some good insight on putting those together.

[OSU]

The $300 millions of dollars Chavez supposedly gave FARC would pay for those SAMs...

Of course the US wants him here, I'm sure they've done business w/ him and would like to safe guard secrets and get some poop on other countries as well...

[thewalrus]

Early in OIF, a lot of his planes were flying in supplies to BIAP.


Do you mean Air Cess, operating Antonov-12s for cargo out of the Sharjah airport and other regional cargo hubs?

Not like there's any lack of An-12s and similar flying around Africa / the Arabian region, his company was probably the lowest bidder per tonne or something...

[Silverbullet]

No surprise here........

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080307/100921415.html

[SN]

No surprise here........

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080307/100921415.html

Lawyer with an attitude, wonder how will thw Thai's react to that?

[Greenhat]

Lawyer with an attitude, wonder how will thw Thai's react to that?

Not well.

[Spinner]

Do you mean Air Cess, operating Antonov-12s for cargo out of the Sharjah airport and other regional cargo hubs?

Not like there's any lack of An-12s and similar flying around Africa / the Arabian region, his company was probably the lowest bidder per tonne or something...

Yea, that was the carrier that carried registration for a lot of the aircraft. But as the narrative in the book makes clear, Bout adopted and shed registries like most people change their socks.

Whoever tries to bring charges is going to have quite a time sorting everything out. This guy was like a chess player, using his planes as the pieces and the world as his board. The big difference was that he was able to change colors at will, and rearrange the board to his liking at will.

[tm3e]

Thai cops will wait for Bouts capture to fade from the worlds media attention then the next story concerning Bout will be how did he mysteriously teleport from a Bangkok holding cell to a celebration in a Moscow nightclub. $$$

[BKK]

Probably a little more $$ then the standard 500 Baht donation to get the BIB (Boys in Brown) off your case.

[Greenhat]

Probably a little more $$ then the standard 500 Baht donation to get the BIB (Boys in Brown) off your case.

Given the visibility and interest of the US, I'm not sure that any donation of that sort will get it done. Of course, whatever special squad arrested him is liable to get some significant training, assets, etc. paid for with US dollars.

[BKK]

True. Thailand is still trying to get under the good graces of the US in the post-coup era. Can't recall for certain, but didn't the US pull it's Military Assistance/Training funding after the Coup. I remember Cobra Gold being in limbo, but it was utimately given the go ahead.

[Greenhat]

They pulled some stuff (some law on the books that required them to do so). Didn't pull everything.

[magician]

Lawyer with an attitude, wonder how will thw Thai's react to that?



"A Russian citizen has been arrested at the request of U.S. authorities in Thailand. This is unacceptable. We will demand Bout's extradition to Russia," Bout's lawyer, Viktor Burobin, said in an interview with the Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy on Friday.



Maybe the Russian authorities really want Vic to stand trial in the US.