|
BANGKOK: Notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, branded the “Merchant
of Death” for feeding weapons to conflict zones around the world,
was paraded handcuffed by Thai police Friday after his capture in a
dramatic sting operation.
The mustachioed Russian’s dealings are said to
have inspired the Hollywood movie “Lord of War,” starring
Nicolas Cage as a ruthless arms trader.
Over the years, he is said to have supplied arms
to Afghanistan’s hardline Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda
terror network, Marxist rebels in South America and former Liberian
warlord Charles Taylor.
But the question remains on who will put him to
trial. Officials from the United States said Friday they were
determined to extradite him on charges of conspiring to sell
millions of dollars in weapons to Colombian FARC rebels.
Russia also plans to seek Bout’s extradition,
while Belgium has worked for years to capture him through the
international police agency Interpol.
However, Thai authorities said they wanted to
decide first if he should be brought to trial here before any
decision on extradition.
The 41-year-old former Soviet air force officer
was arrested at the five-star Sofitel Hotel in Bangkok on Thursday
afternoon, just hours after flying in on an Aeroflot flight from
Moscow, Thai police said.
Bout, a beefy man with sharp blue eyes, was
escorted by around 15 police and heavily armed commandos and paraded
before the media. Wearing an orange polo shirt and khaki pants, he
sat stony faced and silent as Thai police revealed more details of
his capture.
Lieutenant Colonel Nondhawat Amaranonda, one of
the investigating officers, said four other Russians and a British
man were also initially held, but later released without charge.
“Around 50 Thai police officers and US DEA
(officers) went to the hotel to wait for Bout at early dawn, around
5:00 a.m.,” Nondhawat told AFP, referring to the US Drug
Enforcement Agency. “We waited until he went up to his meeting in
a room on the 27th floor. We knocked on the door, informing and
arresting them. They had no guns and did not fight.”
Thai police said Bout, whose reputation arose
out of his alleged role in arming rebels in bloody civil wars from
Africa to South America–could face trial in Thailand.
Surapol Thuanthong, deputy commissioner of
Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau, told reporters that
prosecutors would first decide whether Bout could face trial in
Thailand for aiding terrorists. If convicted, he could spend 10
years in a Thai prison.
The 12-month undercover operation had DEA agents
infiltrating Bout’s inner circle posing as Marxist Colombian
rebels seeking an arsenal of weapons.
The sources set up meetings with Smulian in
Romania, Denmark and the Dutch West Indies to discuss a deal,
according to a previously sealed complaint that was released by New
York prosecutors. During those meetings, agents recorded telephone
calls to Bout in which he discussed shipping arms such as
helicopters, armour-piercing rocket launchers and surface-to-air
missiles.
-- AFP
|
