Russian Arms Dealer Arrested in Thailand

[LaoPo]

Brother promises rescue of arms dealer Bout

26 minutes ago

MOSCOW, March 7, 2008 (AFP) — The arrest of international arms dealer Viktor Bout was strongly criticised on Friday by his brother, who insisted the arrest was made on trumped up charges.

Speaking on Echo of Moscow radio, Sergei Bout said his brother Viktor's arrest in Thailand had been on "mythical charges."

Bout, who has been branded a "merchant of death" for feeding weapons to conflicts around the world, was arrested on Thursday in an operation by Thai and US agents on charges of conspiring to sell weapons to Colombian rebels.

Sergei Bout likened his brother's globe-spanning business to a taxi driver who could not be held responsible for the luggage of his passengers and dismissed what he called the "propaganda" of the US authorities.

"How could the American authorities behave in such an unprincipled way?.... They obviously tricked him in some way.

"In all probability he's a normal businessman. Whatever weapons he may have traded he traded as a transporter, like any one of us could be a taxi driver.

"Can a taxi driver be described as an accessory just because a passenger in his car has a gun in his briefcase?"

Bout's lawyer -- Viktor Burobin -- said he would seek his client's speedy return.

Burobin added that foreign governments had not made any approach to Russian prosecutors on the matter.

"We will insist that Viktor Bout is returned to our country. We will use legal means. We will ask our officials, our president, our government to protect this citizen who finds himself in a foreign land in a rather difficult situation," Burobin said.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gdN_Yu...FOjS9x3oDRfDMbg

LaoPo

[hansnl]

When I read about this arrest, somehow I get a very bad smell in my nose and a even worse taste in my mouth.

Firstly, this arrest will not help, because the empty spot will be taken over by ???????.

Indeed, the pushing of the US does not help to get a clear view of the whole sordid business.

Whatever, arms will be dealt in, probably by one of his companies.

My idea?

He probably concluded a deal wanted by someone else, or on somebodies turf.

Shame on him, not for dealing, but giving leeway for arrest.

His arrest might also be stupid, because it is better to deal with a known adversary.

[Tony Clifton]

I like these arrests.

There's always 20 or so boys in brown standing behind all wanting to be on tv.

[geriatrickid]

Congratulations – The U.S. has got their man for selling arms to other countries. Don’t they just hate the completion?

WAR PAYS

The charges stem from violating the UN arms embargo to the Congo. South Africa which is hardly a USA ally was pushing for this fellow's arrest. The actions were endorsed by several nations in Africa that wanted the civil war to stop. He was also linked to arms sales in parts of the former Yugoslavia, which is a ticking time bomb. The EU were the ones with the most to lose if he sold arms there.

While some illegal arms may come from the USA, it is very difficult to make those sales because of the legalities involving public scrutiny and permits. Almost all of the arms sales to terrorist groups and despotic regimes under sanctions come from former east bloc countries, Russia, China and India. The USA does not have a significant market share.

The USA gets stuck enforcing international arrest warrants because it is the most likely to respond to public pressure. It was the USA that was forced to push everyone during the genocide in Bosnia while the EU sat on its ass. It was the USA that had to push the UN in Rwanda while the UN did nothing, with the Belgians not interfering while murders occurred under their eyes and the Canadians would not intervene for fear of violating their UN mandate.

I am not an American and have many grievances against the USA but repeating falsehoods and distorting the facts in this case is hypocritical. If people want to get all moral, then rage against China, Russia and India. You need only go next door to Burma and see that they are the biggest supporters of that junta which is alleged to be pouring illegal drugs and weapons into Thailand.

[LaoPo]

It's good to learn the US has clean hands versus other arm dealers and countries.

LaoPo

[meom]

As far as I understand it Victor Bout was basically an independent businessman supplying goods to both sides in conflict zones. Bit like one of the characters in Heller’s Catch-22.

Maybe that’s what pissed off the US government after they divided the world into “you’re either with us or against us”

According to some aid agencies he was also the swiftest supplier of relief to disaster zones.

[funfun]

//Edit: Unconfirmed story from some anonymous person's blog removed. If you have a published newspaper report, feel free to post a few lines from it and give the link for the full story.

Edited March 7, 2008 by Maestro

[Maizefarmer]

As far as I understand it Victor Bout was basically an independent businessman supplying goods to both sides in conflict zones. Bit like one of the characters in Heller’s Catch-22.

Maybe that’s what pissed off the US government after they divided the world into “you’re either with us or against us”

According to some aid agencies he was also the swiftest supplier of relief to disaster zones.

Correct - compleltly independant with no fixed loyalties or ideology - he'll sell to however has the money.

[funfun]

As far as I understand it Victor Bout was basically an independent businessman supplying goods to both sides in conflict zones. Bit like one of the characters in Heller’s Catch-22.

Maybe that’s what pissed off the US government after they divided the world into “you’re either with us or against us”

According to some aid agencies he was also the swiftest supplier of relief to disaster zones.

Correct - compleltly independant with no fixed loyalties or ideology - he'll sell to however has the money.

he was selling

out of the 2 players whos gonna sell who?

[meom]

If it's correct that Smulian has been whisked off silently to the US I guess he'll might testify against Bout, should the case ever go to trial in the US.

The text of the US complaint against Viktor Bout and Andrew Smulian makes for interesting reading http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressrelease...utcomplaint.pdf

Edited March 7, 2008 by meom

[Maizefarmer]

If it's correct that Smulian has been whisked off silently to the US I guess he'll might testify against Bout, should the case ever go to trial in the US.

The text of the US complaint against Viktor Bout and Andrew Smulian makes for interesting reading http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressrelease...utcomplaint.pdf

Correct me if I misread, someone please - FARC were in any event coming to the Land Of Smiles for something or other? - the top brass just woke up one morning in their jungle hideout and over the breakfast fire thought it was time to take a break from guerrila fighting and have a holiday in Thailand!! I see ... we really do get some strange visitors. I wonder what they were really coming here for in the first place??

Interesting read indeed. Just goes to show doesn't it - does not matter who it is, how long they have worked with you or how well you think you know them - you just cannot trust anyone nowadays. Here was someone that VB trusted complelty but who was shafting him all along.

[astral]

The Americans want him arrested and locked up, because if anyone is going to sell weapons to 'two bit dictators' it's going to be the Americans.

So you're saying the US or it's Allies don't sell arms to dictatorial countries?

That is the whole point.

Those countries do not want any private competition...........

Just look who trained and funded Al Qaeda back in the 80's

The USA of course.

Now they "reap the worldwind".

[endure]

I've deleted a couple of posts. It's perfectly possible to disagree without inflammatory language. Be civil, please.

[Lucifer]

I've deleted a couple of posts. It's perfectly possible to disagree without inflammatory language. Be civil, please.

Only one was inflammatory. The other was perfectly OK. Thanks for the censorship.

[IMA_FARANG]

<br />He wouldn't sell many arms in Thailand unless he was willing to take fish heads or frozen chickens in trade.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

Watching the news stories on the network T.V. news.....they clearly implied that he was lured to Thailand in a sting operation by the U.S. authorities who led him to believe that it was to be an arms deal to supply arms to the FARC guerillas in Columbia.

[david96]

March 8, 2008

Viktor Bout's career has been reported by Duncan Campbell in London and Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok.

If Viktor Bout did not exist, a thriller writer would have invented him. A former Russian lieutenant, he became one of the world's biggest arms dealers, flying planes into battlefields from Liberia to Afghanistan. His clients have included the Taliban and the US Government, African warlords and the United Nations.

He has as many aliases as an AK-47 has rounds, and has acquired the nicknames Merchant of Death and Lord of War. Pursued for years by the intelligence services of the world, and tracked for months by Thai detectives, on Thursday the elusive 41-year-old was finally arrested in a five-star hotel in Bangkok.

Bout has been charged in New York with agreeing to sell arms and explosives, including surface-to-air missiles and armour-piercing-rocket launchers, to left-wing rebels in Colombia, but the charge sheet could have listed half a dozen countries where governments might like to interview him.

Accused of flouting UN arms embargos and wanted by Interpol, he was arrested on a warrant issued by a Thai court acting on information from the US Drug Enforcement Administration, whose agents are believed to have posed as arms buyers acting on behalf of Colombian guerillas.

"We will take legal action against him here, before deporting him to face trial in another country, [most] likely the US," said Major-General Pongpat Chayaphan, the commander of Thailand's Crime Suppression Division. "We have followed him for several months. He just came back to Thailand today." If convicted in the US, Bout and an associate, who is on the run, face maximum sentences of 15 years.

Bout's story is a classic end-of-the-Cold-War morality tale. As a smart and opportunistic 25-year-old, he took advantage of three factors after the collapse of the Soviet Union: the sudden availability of cheap, clapped-out Soviet air force planes, a massive stockpile of weapons and spare parts guarded only by underpaid servicemen, and the burgeoning demand for weapons around the world. Soon he was flying arms to any government or militia that wanted them and filling his Antonov aircraft with less lethal wares, from gladioli to diamonds, for equally lucrative return trips.

Initially, he provided cheap freight routes to whoever would pay, whether the Angolan Government or the UNITA rebels that fought it, the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan or their Taliban opponents. After 2001, he worked for the US Government and its civilian suppliers, shipping goods into Iraq on their behalf.

"In an age when the US President has divided the world into those who are with the United States and those who are against it, Bout is both," wrote Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, authors of Merchant of Death, the investigation into Bout that they published last year.

He has also flown peacekeepers for the UN to Somalia and aid to Sri Lanka, after the 2004 tsunami.

Yuri Orlov, the character played by Nicolas Cage in Lord of War, the 2005 film about the international arms trade, is said to be modelled on Bout. Amnesty International, which in 2005 accused Bout of being "the most prominent foreign businessman" involved in weapons trafficking to countries under UN arms embargos, such as Slovakia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, has commended the film for highlighting the baleful effects of the arms trade.

As far as Bout was concerned, he was a businessman, providing a service stripped of any ideology. As far as some aid agencies were concerned, Bout was at times the swiftest supplier of relief to disaster zones. As far as the then British Foreign Office minister Peter Hain was concerned, when he denounced him in the British Parliament in 2000, he was a "merchant of death", cynically fuelling civil wars in Africa.

Mr Hain welcomed news of Bout's arrest. "At the time I exposed him, he was running arms to Angola, Sierra Leone and Congo and taking out blood diamonds," he said. "It was a lethal trade and some of those weapons were used against British troops in Sierra Leone. I tried with MI6 [british secret intelligence] to dismantle his activities and we were partially successful but he still has a lot of friends in Moscow."

Oliver Sprague of Amnesty International also hailed the arrest. "While we welcome the fact that Victor Bout has finally been arrested, why has it taken so long for this to happen?" he asked. "This is exactly why an international arms trade treaty is needed. Such a treaty would close loopholes that gun-runners like Viktor Bout so easily exploit for their own gain."

Like any good fictional character, Bout has managed to muddy the waters of his past. He was supposedly born in Tajikistan but he has also claimed he is from Turkmenistan. Others suggest he is Ukrainian. His many passports carry variations of his name, with his Western nom de guerre being Victor Butt. He is married, with at least one daughter.

Having studied at Moscow's Military Institute of Foreign Languages, he is multilingual, speaking everything from Uzbek to French, Portuguese to African dialects, but he denies that he was ever in the KGB.

"Bout would fly for anyone who paid," an associate told the Centre for Public Integrity in the US. "He is good because he takes the chances."

The CIA targeted him and the US Treasury froze his assets. Bout, with his companies registered in Liberia, fluttering countless flags of convenience, and with a lavish home in Moscow and powerful contacts around the world, continued undeterred. Until this week.

As to how he has survived untouched for so long, Farah and Braun quoted a South African associate of Bout: "You never shoot the postman."

[realmadrid25]

it becomes obvious in these threads that many people dislike the US government. i am just curious do you think any other government on this planet is less corrupt? they are all corrupt. the US is more powerful so they take more of the pie. If France had the power of America, they would be the ones in Iraq.

No point in crying or deluding yourself, imho.

"Pursued for years by the intelligence services of the world, and tracked for months by Thai detectives"

LOL, I guess it was Thai detective work that cracked the case and not a phone call from the CIA.

Edited March 8, 2008 by realmadrid25

[david96]

it becomes obvious in these threads that many people dislike the US government. i am just curious do you think any other government on this planet is less corrupt? they are all corrupt. the US is more powerful so they take more of the pie. If France had the power of America, they would be the ones in Iraq.

No point in crying or deluding yourself, imho.

"Pursued for years by the intelligence services of the world, and tracked for months by Thai detectives"

LOL, I guess it was Thai detective work that cracked the case and not a phone call from the CIA.

It might have been his South American operation that caused his undoing, this area has been the turf of the US since the 1920s. FARC are communist.

[rainman]

He probably upset the US government with something, perhaps a deal gone bad. As late as last year, he was supplying arms to the US government too. That is publicly known, the US government even admitted it. And note they're calling him a "bad guy" for the last 10 years, even though they're doing business with him.

He will be extradited to Russia where he will resume business as usual.

Life goes on, he doesn't look concerned

[ChiangMaiThai]

It's good to learn the US has clean hands versus other arm dealers and countries.

LaoPo

Yes, everyone that the US sells weapons to is good. Anyone this guy sold weapons to was bad. Anyone who disagrees must be a terrorist.

DEA, FBI, CIA, ATF, NSA and on and on. What a crazy &lt;deleted&gt;**ing country.

Edited March 8, 2008 by ChiangMaiThai

[Dakhar]

He looks as though he is thinking.... "Oh man this is going to cost me." First pay off the BIB, then reduce brocker fees for those in control and off he goes.

Companies like Barret would probably like to see him gone, he keeps prices low.

[geriatrickid]

Earth to reality deniers trying to describe this as an american plot to corner the arms market for genocides, Source- Grant Peck, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 7, 15:51ET

A U.N. travel ban imposed on Bout said he supported the Liberian regime of former President Charles Taylor in its effort to destabilize neighboring Sierra Leone and gain illicit access to that West African nation's diamonds, which became known as "blood diamonds" for the warring they inspired. Stephen Rapp, chief prosecutor of a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, said Friday that he would like to put Bout on trial. "Would we like to get our hands on Bout? Very much," he said.

Mr. Rapp is standing in line behind the Congo special war crimes investigator, the Columbians, and the Peruvians. The U.N. is hardly a fan, nor a supporter of the USA.

What is the point of attempting to blame the americans for Bout's activities when he was not working for the americans? Bout lived in luxury in Russia because the Russian government allowed it. If he had been in the employ of the americans or serving the americans, Putin would have disposed of him long ago.

[advice]

Earth to reality deniers trying to describe this as an american plot to corner the arms market for genocides, Source- Grant Peck, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 7, 15:51ET

A U.N. travel ban imposed on Bout said he supported the Liberian regime of former President Charles Taylor in its effort to destabilize neighboring Sierra Leone and gain illicit access to that West African nation's diamonds, which became known as "blood diamonds" for the warring they inspired. Stephen Rapp, chief prosecutor of a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, said Friday that he would like to put Bout on trial. "Would we like to get our hands on Bout? Very much," he said.

Mr. Rapp is standing in line behind the Congo special war crimes investigator, the Columbians, and the Peruvians. The U.N. is hardly a fan, nor a supporter of the USA.

What is the point of attempting to blame the americans for Bout's activities when he was not working for the americans? Bout lived in luxury in Russia because the Russian government allowed it. If he had been in the employ of the americans or serving the americans, Putin would have disposed of him long ago.

you missed this part.

"A former Russian lieutenant, he became one of the world's biggest arms dealers, flying planes into battlefields from Liberia to Afghanistan. His clients have included the Taliban and the US Government, African warlords and the United Nations."

You have posted the same dribble on every page, you aint gonna change the minds of smarter people, so give up and stand outside and wave your flag.. For a person who says he is not American, you are doing a lot of bowing to the USA.. they are now getting hit in the pocket in the financial markets, because the world is turning against them and hitting them where it hurts most.... In 20 years the USA will be broke, because the rest of the world will make sure of it... pay backs are a bitch!

Edited March 8, 2008 by advice

[grantbkk]

Earth to reality deniers trying to describe this as an american plot to corner the arms market for genocides, Source- Grant Peck, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 7, 15:51ET

A U.N. travel ban imposed on Bout said he supported the Liberian regime of former President Charles Taylor in its effort to destabilize neighboring Sierra Leone and gain illicit access to that West African nation's diamonds, which became known as "blood diamonds" for the warring they inspired. Stephen Rapp, chief prosecutor of a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, said Friday that he would like to put Bout on trial. "Would we like to get our hands on Bout? Very much," he said.

Mr. Rapp is standing in line behind the Congo special war crimes investigator, the Columbians, and the Peruvians. The U.N. is hardly a fan, nor a supporter of the USA.

What is the point of attempting to blame the americans for Bout's activities when he was not working for the americans? Bout lived in luxury in Russia because the Russian government allowed it. If he had been in the employ of the americans or serving the americans, Putin would have disposed of him long ago.

I absolutely agree with everything "geriatrickid" says. I must remind him however Americans is always capitalized just like Russia, Colombians and Peruvians. Now that I've said this, the anti-American contingent on TV can turn another high profile arrest in Thailand into another rant against the USA. Go ahead and vent. It is philologically healthy for you.

[rainman]

Let's try try and get back to the topic, guys. Bottom line is that the only reason why Viktor Bout looks concerned is because he will spend a little time in Thai jail and pay a lot of money to eventually get extradited to Russia.

[funfun]

Alleged Russian arms dealer detained 12 more days, bail denied

BANGKOK, March 8 (TNA) - Thailand's Criminal Court today gave police another 12 days for further questioning of a notorious suspected Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, sometimes described as the "Merchant of Death", and refused to grant him release on bail.

Armed Crime Suppression Division (CSD) and police commandos early today escorted the 41-year-old suspect to Court and sought an extension of the detention order to question him another 12 days.

Under Thai law, police can seek the detention of a suspect for further questioning seven times with each time lasting 12 days.

Reasoning that Mr. Bout was a major international criminal, said to be a former Soviet KGB agent (other sources named him as a former Soviet air force officer), police also asked the court not to grant him bail for fear that he would jump bail.

The suspect is now being detained at Bangkok Special Prison.

Mr. Bout was arrested Thursday at a luxury hotel in central Bangkok.

Pol. Lt-Gen. Adisorn Nonsi, commissioner of the Central Investigation bureau, said yesterday that Mr. Bout could face up to 10 years in prison or a maximum fine of Bt200,000 in Thailand if found guilty on charges of procuring weapons for terrorists.

According to Pol. Col. Kittisak Sukwattanakul of the CSD, the suspect continued to deny the charges and said only that he had traveled to Thailand twice as a tourist. Mr. Bout's passport and visa to Thailand have been revoked in advance on police concerns that he would be released on bail.

The Russian embassy has requested the Thai authorities to extradite Mr. Bout from Thailand so that he would serve his jail sentence there.

Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said he had met Russian ambassador to Thailand yesterday and discussed Mr. Bout's arrest.

The ambassador asked for details of the suspect from the Thai authorities and was confident that the issue would not hurt warm relations between the two countries, Mr. Noppadon said. (TNA)-E111

General News : Last Update : 15:34:18 8 March 2008 (GMT+7:00)

"or a maximum fine of Bt200,000 "

eh it makes ya laugh here at times!!!!

[Dakhar]

200,000 baht....

No wonder he looked anoyed! He was thinking.... do I have that in my left sock or my right sock?

[egg6447]

200,000 baht....

No wonder he looked anoyed! He was thinking.... do I have that in my left sock or my right sock?

holy shit it costs me 800000bt ti stay here. what AM i doing rong.??

[Maizefarmer]

Earth to reality deniers trying to describe this as an american plot to corner the arms market for genocides, Source- Grant Peck, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 7, 15:51ET

A U.N. travel ban imposed on Bout said he supported the Liberian regime of former President Charles Taylor in its effort to destabilize neighboring Sierra Leone and gain illicit access to that West African nation's diamonds, which became known as "blood diamonds" for the warring they inspired. Stephen Rapp, chief prosecutor of a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, said Friday that he would like to put Bout on trial. "Would we like to get our hands on Bout? Very much," he said.

Mr. Rapp is standing in line behind the Congo special war crimes investigator, the Columbians, and the Peruvians. The U.N. is hardly a fan, nor a supporter of the USA.

What is the point of attempting to blame the americans for Bout's activities when he was not working for the americans? Bout lived in luxury in Russia because the Russian government allowed it. If he had been in the employ of the americans or serving the americans, Putin would have disposed of him long ago.

Geriatrickid - Correction sir - he did not live in Russia - he hasn't being there for a good few years. He has spent the last 5 years (at least) living in a huge mansion in Shajah (UAE) - confining his travel to very few countries.

What strikes me as odd is that he fell for a meeting in Thailand with a bunch of guys who have no connection with the place. FARC commanders in Thailand!? - one would have thought someone with his experiance would have queiried that in a bit more depth than he did.

On a more general note I see from the indictment that the Americans have said nothing about his previous activities - they only seem to be concenred that he was interested in selling to someone who didn't represent USA interests i.e. I think the fact that FARC is seen by the USA as a terrorist group is a non-issue - all the US is concerned about is their own interests, nothing else.

See how the American official at the Thai press meeting trumpeted the Royal Thai Polices' good work!! - it was the very first thing he said - aaah yes, the sincerity of American diplomacy!

[Heng]

^^can you explain what that means Heng?

I second that.

The old lady behind that hotel and group of companies and everyone's favorite owl faced politician have been a team for years dealing in weapons. It's fairly common knowledge.