Russian Arms Dealer Arrested in Thailand

[LaoPo]

^^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.

Maybe she had an appointment for dinner that night with a Russian fellow named Viktor ?

International arms dealer Viktor Bout waits inside a detention cell of the Bangkok Criminal Court to be transferred to Klong Prem prison in Bangkok March 8, 2008.

International arms dealer Viktor Bout sits in the Bangkok Criminal Court as he waits to be transferred to Klong Prem prison in Bangkok March 8, 2008.

International arms dealer Viktor Bout is fingerprinted at the Bangkok Criminal Court as he waits to be transferred to Klong Prem prison in Bangkok March 8.

"After the arrest, the Russian embassy has requested the Thai authorities to extradite Bout from Thailand.

Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said he had met Russian ambassador to Thailand on Friday and discussed 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, Noppadon said."

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/...ent_7746603.htm

Hmmm...the soup isn't that hot and the Thai are buying time for a way out. They're now in the middle of something they don't like. I'll bet some people in Thailand (like Heng mentioned) have wet hands....

He'll be gone before the new moon.....that's about 12/13 days from now on March 21st.

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

The Commando: ...he loved our Tom Yam soup for lunch...

LaoPo

[Jandajoy]

The Commando: ...he loved our Tom Yam soup for lunch...

LaoPo

Have you ever seen those tong things that gynos use to "open and expand?"

Given the smile on the cops face I'd be a very worried arms dealer.

[geriatrickid]

Maizefarmer, you are correct in respect to Bout's residence as he left Belgium for the UAE when the international arrest warrant was issued. However, he owned a large mansion in Moscow which he visited regularly. He also had a "palatial residence" in South Africa which he left. (Even arms dealers get burglared.) Mr. Bout is reported to have 5 passports. The Americans banned dealings with him in 2006. Had he stopped dealing arms and laid low since then, he probably could have lived out his life in luxury. He was greedy and kept dealing.

And now for the beacon of justice and the twisted history highlights

You play fast and loose with the facts. However there are 2 inaccuracies that are just so depressing that they require comment;

Wars for oil seem to be in fashion this season.

The USA gets its almost all of its oil from the following countries; Saudi Arabia, Canada, Mexico, Venezuala and Nigeria. It is China, France, Italy, Japan, and Germany that rely on Iraqi oil. Nice try.

In the North they still hate the US with a vengence.

So out of touch. Vietnam has a young population. Almost 1/2 the population wasn't even alive when the Vietnam war was going on. 30% of the population is under 14 years of age. Do you think anyone under 35 years of age even cares?

The big concern now is with China which invaded Vietnam in 1979. It was a failed landgrab. If you have been in Vietnamese north border communities then you will be aware that there are drills to protect against a Chinese invasion. Maybe you should give prime Minister Dung a call and tell him to cancel the links because you think that "in the north they still hate the US with a vengence (sic)" As much as you may decry the USA, Vietnam wants to use the USA to balance China.

[endure]

The topic is:

"Russian Arms Dealer Arrested in Thailand"

Stick with it, please. Any more anti-US ranting will be deleted and its originator given time off.

[Tony Clifton]

1- What better place than a Thai jail for a kingpin to conduct business in total privacy, been done before and still goes on.

Is it possible that he was actually making a weapons deal with the present Thai govt. in preparation for what seems inevitable unrest, and the U.S. govt somehow caught this and ordered his arrest?

[endure]

This is the last time of asking. Stick to the topic.

[DDIM]

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.

What a fool he is, by trying to carry out a covert and illegal arms deal in a place no-one would think of.

Where do you suggest arms deal of this nature should take place?

[A_Traveller]

If one takes the time to review the court papers {post 41 above in the thread} you will see that this sting has been running for a number of months. One thing which struck me from the docs was that at one time his partner who has since disappeared, was asked to pick out the FARC people from photos supplied by, allegedly Bout.

Regards

[rainman]

Where do you suggest arms deal of this nature should take place?

Washington, DC? Nobody would expect it there

[Maestro]

I have deleted ten more off-topic posts and flames.

--

Maestro

[Heng]

Hmmm...the soup isn't that hot and the Thai are buying time for a way out. They're now in the middle of something they don't like. I'll bet some people in Thailand (like Heng mentioned) have wet hands....

Maybe the local police are having what computer folks like to call a 'BIB checksum error.' That's when the two parties involved are fairly well off. For instance what happens to a head hauncho policeman's brain when the US Gov says they will indeed pay the US25,, reward but the "bad guy" (read SMALL time arms dealer competing with the US arms dealing biz) says that he'll pay US100,, if it can be arranged if he could escape in a staged rescue by his comrades where no one will get fatally shot.

In the local tradition, naturally the answer is to take both deals.... but it'll take some time for the 64k BIB microchip to process how to actually make that work.

Edited March 9, 2008 by Heng

[Briggsy]

Or even better, Heng, for the cops is a 3-way bidding war between the Russians, the Americans and Mr Bout himself. They would get paid 3 times and all of the parties involved have a lot of money/arms/favours to hand out.

The Bangkok Post has at least 3 pieces on its website on this story. Not sure why. One of them sings the praises of the Thai cops for their stealthy tracking and arrest of this "fugitive from justice". I had to laugh. He was arrested on the 27th floor of a downtown hotel.

[Tony Clifton]

Hmmm...the soup isn't that hot and the Thai are buying time for a way out. They're now in the middle of something they don't like. I'll bet some people in Thailand (like Heng mentioned) have wet hands....

Maybe the local police are having what computer folks like to call a 'BIB checksum error.' That's when the two parties involved are fairly well off. For instance what happens to a head hauncho policeman's brain when the US Gov says they will indeed pay the US25,, reward but the "bad guy" (read SMALL time arms dealer competing with the US arms dealing biz) says that he'll pay US100,, if it can be arranged if he could escape in a staged rescue by his comrades where no one will get fatally shot.

In the local tradition, naturally the answer is to take both deals.... but it'll take some time for the 64k BIB microchip to process how to actually make that work.

[Maizefarmer]

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.

What a fool he is, by trying to carry out a covert and illegal arms deal in a place no-one would think of.

Where do you suggest arms deal of this nature should take place?

You missing the point - Thailand was their idea - not his (Bouts'), and what makes it worse is that Raúl Reyes was killed in Uruguay about 2 - 3 days before this meeting was supposed to take place - and Bout (with all his experiance) still didn't find it odd that the remaining senior management expressed no concern or desire to change any part or aspect of the plan - as if nothing had happened.

Bout came on his passport , but how did Bout come to Thailand: was it on his own plane or a scheduled flight - anyone know?

[bruceboy]

Excellent point, which is why I think he will walk.

[rainman]

You missing the point - Thailand was their idea - not his (Bouts'), and what makes it worse is that Raúl Reyes was killed in Uruguay about 2 - 3 days before this meeting was supposed to take place - and Bout (with all his experiance) still didn't find it odd that the remaining senior management expressed no concern or desire to change any part or aspect of the plan - as if nothing had happened.

Bout came on his passport , but how did Bout come to Thailand: was it on his own plane or a scheduled flight - anyone know?

Raul Reyes was killed in Ecuador, not in Uruguay.

[Maizefarmer]

Sorry - my error - but the point remains the same does it not?

[LaoPo]

Revealed: trap that lured the merchant of death

His notorious expoits as an arms dealer have been captured in a Hollywood film. Now, after fuelling wars for a decade, Viktor Bout is behind bars. Here we uncover the elaborate sting operation that led to the downfall of the former Soviet officer with his own fleet of planes who evaded justice for so long.

Mitchell Prothero, Sunday March 9 2008.

The war between Israel and Hizbollah was three days old when American intelligence spotted a bear-sized man with a moustache and hangdog face meeting high-ranking Hizbollah officials in a safe house just outside Beirut. With Israeli F-16s roaming the skies above the city and military commanders growing increasingly desperate to find and kill high-value Hizbollah targets, the sighting should have been a watershed moment.

Those high-ranking Hizbollah officials, it is now widely believed, were, in all probability, meeting the man who apparently supplied them with their hi-tech weapons: Viktor Bout, the world's biggest arms dealer.

It was, it appears, another close escape for the man known as the 'Merchant of Death', who had spent more than a decade fuelling wars across the world by being able to deliver weapons to anyone, anywhere, at almost any time. And that might not have been his greatest talent, for he also had shown an uncanny ability for avoiding arrest, despite having Interpol, the United Nations and half a dozen nations' intelligence services tracking his empire of air cargo transports and weapons delivery services.

Until last week that is - and his arrest by Thai authorities on suspicion of attempting to ship arms to American agents who were posing as Farc rebels in Colombia.

The story of Viktor Bout has been an instructive modern parable of private enterprise and war and globalisation's bandit fringes. It is a story too that casts a bleak spotlight on the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, whose relationship with Bout was - at the very least - ambiguous. The Russians, it appears, protected Bout, even while he was being sought under an Interpol warrant, while individuals within the CIA (if not the organisation itself) appear to have been prepared to discourage other US agencies from going after Bout as long as he was useful.

Far from being a shadowy figure, Bout, for all his elusiveness, was well known. The character of Yuri Orlov, played by Nicolas Cage in the film Lord of War in 2005, was based in large part on him. For now, however, the heavy-set former Soviet air force officer is languishing in a Thai jail and protesting that he visited Bangkok as an innocent tourist, even as the US is preparing a case for his extradition.

He will no doubt be ruing the fact that he was the victim of a classic sting - lured from hiding by the offer of supplying missiles to Farc by a paid informer of the Drug Enforcement Administration, which had been pursuing him for his links to the drugs trade, apparently acting independently of the CIA.

The pursuit of Bout alleged in the US indictment reads like a Robert Ludlum novel as the agency directed its informers through meetings from Copenhagen to Curacao and Bucharest in an elaborate charade that targeted at first a claimed Bout associate, Andrew Smulian, as the go-between for the fictitious deal. As the performance unravelled, Smulian slowly filled in the crucial details before spelling out Bout's name to one of the informers at a meeting in Copenhagen and identifying him as the man known as 'the merchant of death'.

Through January and February Bout firmed up his end of the deal - for 100 Igla surface-to-air missiles and armour-piercing rocket launchers that would, according to the fictitious plan, be dropped by parachute by Bout's air crew at designated landing spots in Colombia. Bout was persuaded he was dealing with senior Farc leaders and, invited to Thailand by a man calling himself 'El Comandante', Bout broke cover. The trap was sprung.

Viktor Bout, arms dealer, was one of a kind. His rise was based not only on his ability to procure the kind of weapons his clients needed, but on running his business with the kind of reliability that would not seem out of place in a listed City firm.

Bout's emergence, experts recall, was sudden. One US official marvelled to Douglas Farah, an intelligence consultant and former journalist, who co-wrote the book Merchant of Death, published in 2007, about Bout's life and his many inexplicable escapes, that his arrival as a major arms broker was 'sort of like Jesus. He suddenly appears on the scene miraculously, as a full-blown character'.

Known to hold numerous passports - most of which put his birth in 1967 - Bout's history prior to coming to the notice of the international community in the African and Afghan wars of the 1990s seems to be intentionally murky. In rare interviews Bout admits to having attended Moscow's prestigious Military Institute of Foreign Languages in the late 1980s, considered a training ground for military intelligence officers, and it is widely believed that he served as a translator in Africa for the Soviet air force.

It was with the collapse of the Soviet Union that Bout apparently saw his opportunity. Management of its vast stockpiles of small arms and other weapons were in a state of anarchy as unpaid officers and soldiers sold off whatever they could. Bout soon set up a series of small transport companies based in Belgium and the United Arab Emirates through a complex series of corporate structures that US officials have described as being modelled on drug cartels, designed to obscure ownership and operations.

At the core of these companies was a small number of huge Soviet transport aircraft that could negotiate poorly monitored developing world airspace and easily handle the rugged landing zones throughout Africa and Asia. This fleet eventually expanded to more than 60 and is called by many aviation experts the largest private fleet of Soviet-era planes in the world.

Apparently speaking more than half a dozen languages, Bout was able to operate in the grey and black markets, shipping anything that needed to be moved for anyone, using the Emirates city of Sharjah as a major operations hub. While much of his early cargo was legitimate, including flowers, chickens - even UN peacekeepers - Bout is alleged by Interpol quickly to have built relationships with the suddenly unpaid and poorly monitored Russian army officers in control of the weapons stores and soon built a business delivering these weapons around the world.

His first markets were the wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. Supplying the warlords of these conflicts would lead to a series of UN, American and European sanctions being imposed on Bout, beginning in 2002. He often equipped both sides of a conflict, most famously in Afghanistan, where he supplied both the Taliban and Ahmad Shah Massoud's Northern Alliance troops, often using the same flights to drop off weapons to the different combatants.

Despite having his assets frozen, his headquarters operations in Belgium and United Arab Emirates exposed and his planes tracked by a diligent band of human rights groups, journalists and furious diplomats, Bout continued to operate with close to impunity until his arrest six years later.

He managed it through an ever-morphing series of front companies that allegedly managed the fleet of Soviet-era transport planes. Among contracts to deliver men, equipment and weapons was one to deliver Fed-Ex parcels to Baghdad in 2004 on behalf of an American government that considered him a criminal. Bout delivered aid too - to both the south Asian tsunami victims in 2004 and Pakistani earthquake zone in 2005 - and shuffled UN peacekeepers and weapons into Darfur.

That Bout's life has been one of close calls is without question, but none it seems closer than the scrape in Lebanon in 2006. Anecdotal evidence supplied by Israeli and other intelligence sources claim that following the alleged sighting of Bout, GPS co-ordinates were passed from the Americans to the Israelis. And what is known is that on the sixth day of the war, in the early morning, nearly 20 guided bombs descended on a three-storey home inside the Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp, a mile or so from Hizbollah's obliterated military headquarters.

Claims about Bout's links to Hizbollah are supported by reports seen by Douglas Farah. 'There were serious intelligence reports that Bout was in Beirut during the fighting between Hizbollah and Israel in the summer of 2006 and that he was the purveyor of much of the modern Russian armaments Hizbollah used to great effect in that conflict,' Farah said last week.

'The Russian armour-piercing anti-tank weapons [that did so much damage to Israeli armour during the fighting] were of particular concern. Shortly before the conflict, Bout's Syrian-American partner had taken up residence in the Syrian capital Damascus, another suspected source of weapons for Hizbollah. The coincidence of his presence in Damascus and the flow of weapons to Hizbollah,' said Farah, 'was not lost on many in the intelligence community.'

But while Bout's exploits as an arms dealer of choice to a host of unsavoury regimes and groups appears largely beyond dispute, what is more puzzling is how he got away with it for so long. The answer, according to many long-time Bout experts, intelligence officials and US government sources, is that there exists a strong circumstantial case that his ability to get into the world's most troubled regions and deliver exactly what he promised on time and at the promised cost made him an invaluable ally to more powerful interests than African warlords and diamond smugglers.

Alex Yearsley of the London-based Global Witness, the organisation that led the charge against both Bout and his partners for trading weapons throughout Africa, often in exchange for contracts for natural resources, believes his ability to evade arrest reflected not simply a lack of will by certain nations but a crass exercise in realpolitik.

'Due to the complicity of members of the [five permanent members on the United Nations] Security Council in the conflicts that Bout armed, on both sides, there were always politically expedient excuses not to arrest [him] earlier,' he says. 'He ran an operation that always had plausible deniability. If his planes got caught delivering weapons to rebel movements or sanctioned regimes, they could always claim he was a rogue businessman. On several occasions when he was about to be arrested by one government another government would find a use for him.'

Bout's activities fell under increased scrutiny over the past five years, particularly after the revelations that he had been given contracts to serve the Iraqi occupation. UN travel sanctions and moves by the US Department of Treasury to freeze his assets and complicate his business operations limited his business, according to US government documents. But based in Moscow, Bout was able to continue operations until his arrest. Yearsley echoes many observers when he says it appeared he was under the protection of the Russian government.

'He seemed to have a very high level of protection in Russia, living there a happy and a free man despite Interpol 'red' notices and Belgian arrest warrants. [This protection] makes a mockery of Russia's justice system. He was used by [Vladimir Putin] to wind up the Western liberals and make some Russian generals rich,' he said.

In a meeting last autumn, one European intelligence official who had worked on a long-running investigation into Bout's activities in Africa was openly cynical that he would ever be caught. 'Arrest Bout? Nobody wants to. Even my own government eventually shut us down. There's been a decision to hassle him with sanctions to keep him in line but everyone needs him at some point, or might [need him]. Plus he'd just be replaced by someone else and they could be worse,' the official said. 'As long as he stays quiet and remains useful, he can do this indefinitely.'

In the end it was an agency of one of those states suspected of turning a blind eye to Bout's activities that was the engine behind his capture. According to a source with close ties to the DEA, the operation was so sensitive it was kept secret from other members of the US intelligence community, including high-ranking members of the Justice Department, precisely because of the fear that Bout might be tipped off by elements that the DEA agents feared had protected him in the past. A special unit was set up to run the operation due to 'war on drugs' legislation and guidelines, allowed to operate outside the normal protocols that require US government-wide notification.

Few people, even in the closed world of US intelligence, knew the DEA was tracking Bout, let alone setting him up for an arrest. '[The DEA] was laughing at the CIA in their offices,' because they had arrested someone that was perceived to be working for the agency, said one witness.

The strong suspicion that elements in US and other Western intelligence services supposed to be pursuing Bout were occasionally protecting him - no evidence suggests an official policy to protect Bout - is supported by an American diplomat who had tracked Bout as part of investigations into the trade in Russia's post-Cold War arms stockpiles.

The diplomat described how efforts to track or harass Bout in the late 1990s and early 2000 by small-arms control experts at the State Department would eventually draw the ire of certain CIA officials, resulting in angry phone calls to the diplomat's superiors demanding that they back off. But the diplomat was emphatic that he did not believe the agency actively or officially worked alongside Bout, but rather traded information with him, making him a useful, if unappealing, occasional asset.

'I sense they were just as shocked as the rest of us when the bastard was found flying into Baghdad [on behalf of the US government],' he said of the CIA.

Farah, meanwhile, believes that Bout's willingness to work with Islamic organisations such as Hizbollah and the Islamic Courts in Somalia, considered an al-Qaeda ally by American officials, probably helped speed his demise.

'I think Bout was arrested now for several reasons: he was no longer useful to the United States and was an embarrassment ... he had shown a willingness to work with those directly opposed to US vital interests,' Farah says. 'This, in the end, moved at least a portion of the US law enforcement and intelligence community to make him a high priority target, something he had not been for many years.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/0...ernationalcrime

LaoPo

[geriatrickid]

Ostensibly the Thailand meeting was part of the Farc sting, but why Thailand? Is it possible, he had an additional motive? The Burmese junta has only been mildly inconvenienced by the UN sanctions and western arms embargo. Although India and China appear to be the source of most Burmese military hardware (it's the oil reserves that grease the trade), both countries know they have a tiger by the tail and haven't shipped alot of the hi tech items the junta has been looking for. Is it possible, Mr. Bout was also in town to make a deal with the Burmese? There has been a real upsurge of drug trafficing on the Thai Burma border and it is no big secret that the Thai military is concerned about the Burmese activities. The growing drug trade while benefiting the Burmese trafficers and their Thai cronies, is doing a number on the economy up North and facilitating corruption of officials, all of which undermines stability. I haven't seen any mention of this, so I may be wrong, but someone , somewhere has been helping the Burmese and the Burmese fit the profile of Mr. Bout's typical customer.

[judgedredd]

I have read several places in this thread where serious contributors have asked - - “Why did the USA DEA set up Mr. Bout in Thailand?” Indeed, why would the DEA select Thailand as the place where Viktor Bout could be easily taken down?

In my opinion, it is because Mr. Bout felt safe here in Thailand, (that made the task easier) and also perhaps because the USA has multiple agendas, seeking to kill several birds with one stone.

These are the reasons, in my opinion, why the DEA may have selected Thailand:

(1.)There is a strong and growing Russian community in Pattaya and in Bangkok who sell services, peddle influence, and offer protection to other Russians. The so-called “Russian-Mafia” has close ties with other elements of organized crime in Thailand. Perhaps Mr. Bout felt protected here amongst his Russian comrades. No where in the news articles does anyone identify the nationality of the DEA paid undercover informant. You have to wonder . . .

(2.)It is well known in the security community here in Thailand that there is a love-hate relationship between the Thai police and the Russians. On the one hand, the Russian criminal organizations in Pattaya (and in the Lumpini police district in Bangkok) make big payoffs to some of the Boys in Brown. On the other hand, I have heard an RTP Police General state that “it is only a matter of time” before Pattaya will be hit by a serious Thai police enforcement action directed against Russian illegal workers, prostitution, drug sales, and money-laundering.

(3.)Do the Americans, most especially the DEA, have multiple agendas? Of course, why wouldn’t they? If the Americans can create a crime that illustrates to the Thai’s another example of “bad Russians operating freely in Thailand”, perhaps that furthers the general American agenda in Thailand.

(4.)Burma, the arms trade, and the drug trade: Several posters have speculated in this thread that perhaps Mr. Bout was also in the region to do business with the Burmese Military Junta. There is no publicly stated evidence, thus far, to support or deny whether a Burmese connection exists, but that does not matter. If the USA chooses to make it look as if there were a Burmese connection, then that also furthers the general American agenda in the Southeast Asian region.

Even if Mr. Bout is allowed to walk by the Thai’s, the Americans score points in this operation.

JudgeDredd

[Dakhar]

Yep, looks like he became no longer useful, and like an old girlfriend, he was traded out. Now I woed who will take his place. Apparently you have to ask for permission first?

[anthos]

I have read several places in this thread where serious contributors have asked - - "Why did the USA DEA set up Mr. Bout in Thailand?" Indeed, why would the DEA select Thailand as the place where Viktor Bout could be easily taken down?

In my opinion, it is because Mr. Bout felt safe here in Thailand, (that made the task easier) and also perhaps because the USA has multiple agendas, seeking to kill several birds with one stone.

These are the reasons, in my opinion, why the DEA may have selected Thailand:

(1.)There is a strong and growing Russian community in Pattaya and in Bangkok who sell services, peddle influence, and offer protection to other Russians. The so-called "Russian-Mafia" has close ties with other elements of organized crime in Thailand. Perhaps Mr. Bout felt protected here amongst his Russian comrades. No where in the news articles does anyone identify the nationality of the DEA paid undercover informant. You have to wonder . . .

(2.)It is well known in the security community here in Thailand that there is a love-hate relationship between the Thai police and the Russians. On the one hand, the Russian criminal organizations in Pattaya (and in the Lumpini police district in Bangkok) make big payoffs to some of the Boys in Brown. On the other hand, I have heard an RTP Police General state that "it is only a matter of time" before Pattaya will be hit by a serious Thai police enforcement action directed against Russian illegal workers, prostitution, drug sales, and money-laundering.

I'm sorry I have to comment of the "russian mafia" issue

maybe a bit offtopic but I just can't see it whenever a russian is involved

as a Russian I'm not aware of any Russian "Mafia" operating in Thailand

yes, there are communities in Pattaya and Bangkok but they are pretty harmless compared to both criminalized areas in Russia and to criminal activities of British or any other european comunity in Thailand, just open the Pattaya news clippings here on Thaivisa and compare the figures

Payoffs for illegal labour? Yes there are payoffs by big travel agents to police when Russian tour guides are arrested. Is it a "mafia" type activity? no, it's been a rule of the game for many years, just part of the tour operator business, everyone knows the prices and procedures. License the guides and let Russians get a legal and professional service in their own language. The mafia is clearly on the other end here.

Prostitution? There are a couple of strip clubs with Russian girls in Pattaya and by the way the girls are not forced to have sex with customers there, I've visited one of the places myself (together with my wife))), I'm telling you they have enough tips from the Germans, huge success ). Plus a few girls in that Heaven big body massage building at sukhumvit - pattaya klang intersection (you can see them in Foodland late arfter midnight) - that's for asian market. And a few freelancers here and there. Let's suppose there are another 50 Russian prostitutes in Bangkok to treat the local folks - do they believe they are protected by the "Russian Mafia"?

Drug sales? Are they joking? I've been here for 8 years and never heard of a Russian drug dealer. And it never takes long to locate a British or Israeli one to say nothing about Thai. Drug export? To Russia? not feasible, sorry.

Money laundering? Maybe to a certain level it exists but again it is still marginal compared to other countries.

The myth of Russian Mafia in Thailand is often exagerrated by both Thais and falungs,

I can imagine a certain kind of Russian shaking hands with a local boxing staduim owner but so what? There's no one to really to crack down on, better Thai police crack down on themselves.

And these Russians who settled here in Thailand can be of no help whatsoever for Bout, they are the last people you'll fell protected among, trust me on that )). People like Bout are protected on government level. We will see very soon if Bout has such a protection these days. He may be easily traded by Russians to Americans for something (with Thailand getting their commission). The fact that he went into such a dubious affair, being possibly betrayed by his partner and having to fly to Thailand (a safe heaven for american intelligence) to negotiate - means he may not have been doing very well lately.

[Kerryd]

The Thai courts have denied bail for Mr Bout, considering him a potential flight risk:

BANGKOK, Thailand — A Thai court denied bail Tuesday to a purported Russian arms dealer, citing the serious nature of the charges against him and saying he is considered a flight risk, his lawyer said.

Viktor Bout, 41, was arrested in Thailand on Thursday and was charged with conspiracy for trying to smuggle missiles and rocket launchers to rebels in Colombia. Bout has denied all charges against him.

"The court has denied bail," Nitiwatanavichan told the AP. "The court said if it grants bail the suspect might escape."

Go figure. With numerous passports, his own fleet of aircraft, lots of money and highly placed "connections", surely he wouldn't try to escape to a place where he wasn't facing 10-15 years in prison ?

[Tony Clifton]

Patience, patience, a Thai prison is the perfect place for a rich man to make deals, even for escaping.

[Kerryd]

Maybe his mistake is that he (Mr Bout) isn't a big enough criminal to be allowed special consideration ? After all, it doesn't appear he's actually commited any crimes (in Thailand). (What is he guilty of in Thailand ? Renting a hotel room with the Intent of (possibly) Meeting (alleged) Members of a South American Revolutionary group (terrorists by American definition) who were actually American DEA Agents setting up a Sting ? What's the penalty for that I wonder ?)

Meanwhile, as we know, another well known figure that was arrested upon his return to Thailand, was released on bail mere hours after his arrest. Nevermind the (alleged) massive fraud, the (alleged) connections to the extra-judicial killings during the war on drugs (and numerous other (alleged) charges).

I guess there is a difference between being a billionaire criminal and a mere multi-millionaire criminal.

[burman]

This guy is not doing time in a Thai jail, he'll be in Russia or America soon brokering a deal for his freedom.

[LaoPo]

Arms suspect's arrest 'unlawful' (Viktor Bout)

By Jonathan Head

BBC News, Bangkok

The lawyer for an alleged Russian arms dealer has complained that no specific charges have been filed, and insists his client is innocent of any crime.

Viktor Bout was detained in a Bangkok hotel 10 days ago, after a sting operation by American agents posing as Colombian rebels trying to buy weapons.

The United States is now seeking his extradition from Thailand.

Mr Bout has been called the world's biggest illegal arms dealer and, by one UK minister, the "Merchant of Death".

'Groundless'

Since his dramatic arrest in Bangkok 10 days ago, Viktor Bout, the man accused of being the biggest illegal arms dealer of modern times, has vanished from view.

Having initially paraded their prize before the media, the Thai police have had second thoughts; fears for his security, they say, have forced them to keep him out of sight.

They are even planning to have him testify in court via video link.

But he does now have a team of lawyers working for him in Thailand.

Mr Dasgupta says his client has committed no crime

Jan Dasgupta, head of his Russian defence team, insisted there was no evidence of any wrong-doing by his client.

"He considers his arrest unlawful, and groundless," he said.

"And he does not consider himself guilty of any illegal action, neither in Thailand, nor where else in the world."

Mr Dasgupta complained that Thai officials had been pressing Mr Bout to agree to go to the United States, where he is wanted on charges of assisting a terrorist organisation.

He said he saw no basis for extraditing his client from the charge-sheet prepared by prosecutors in New York, and that he had not seen any specific charges against Mr Bout in Thailand.

Responding to the allegation that his client was the world's most notorious arms dealer, Mr Dasgupta insisted Mr Bout ran a legitimate air transport and logistics business, but had aroused suspicion only because he operated in war-torn regions of Africa.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7300027.stm

LaoPo

[Scott]

I find it rather amazing that quite a few people seem to think this guys arrest was wrong. Do we really need people like him walking around?

[Plus]

How long can they keep him wihout any serious charges? Merchant of Death or not, they can't incarderate him for being portrayed in a Hollywood movie. Or can they?