Thailand orders extradition of American wanted on weapons charges

BANGKOK: Thailand's Criminal Court has ordered the extradition of an American man wanted in the United States on illegal weapons charges, an official said on Wednesday.

Richard Charles Biggs, 36, was arrested in southeastern Rayong province in September at the request of American authorities. The Criminal Court granted a US request for his extradition on Tuesday, and he has 15 days to appeal, a court official said on condition of anonymity.

Biggs was indicted by a US District Court in Richmond, Virginia, in July 2000 on two counts of possessing illegal machine guns and one count of obliterating a serial number on one of the guns, a US Embassy spokesman said earlier.

It was not immediately known what penalty Biggs would face if convicted.

Thai police said at the time of Biggs' arrest that he had been working as a marketing manager at a car assembly company in Rayong, 145 kilometres southeast of Bangkok.

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Biggs was indicted by a US District Court in Richmond, Virginia, in July 2000 on two counts of possessing illegal machine guns and one count of obliterating a serial number on one of the guns, a US Embassy spokesman said earlier.

gotta be something more than that, they are not going through all this trouble to bust a guy on an illegal MG