'Lord of War' arms dealer Viktor Bout arrested in Thailand*** SAMs to FARC***

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3498795.ece



Fran Yeoman and agencies
A Russian arms dealer thought to have inspired the lead character in the blockbuster film Lord of War was arrested in Bangkok today.

Viktor Bout, 41, was detained while allegedly attempting to buy weapons for Colombian rebels.

Dubbed "the merchant of death", he has been accused of breaking UN embargoes since the early 1990s by selling arms to conflict-torn regions in Africa and around the world.

Thai police said today that Mr Bout had been arrested in a Bangkok hotel. "He was attempting to procure weapons for Colombia’s FARC rebels”, the arrest report said.

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According to the United Nations and the US Treasury Department, Mr Bout has sold arms or brokered deals that have helped fuel wars in Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

In 2006, the US Treasury Department seized his cargo planes and froze other assets.

[seemslikeadream]

1. "These undercover sources were acting as high level representatives of the FARC, attempting to obtai

http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=126357
"These undercover sources were acting as high level representatives of the FARC, attempting to obtain arms," he explained, referring to the rebels of the illegal Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2968863&mesg_id=2968863

[Lint Head]

2. Fuck this son of a bitch. He is responsible for faciliting

the killing of innocent people. :dem:

[seemslikeadream]

3. "You never shoot the postman."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/07/thailand.russia

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

4. What happens to the U.S. weapons dealers who have propped up Columbia's drug cartel?

Nothing?

Oh, yeah. That's how it works,...our economic dictators RULE!!!

[seemslikeadream]

6. Viktor Bout busted

http://faustasblog.com/2008/03/vikto-bout-busted.html

Thursday, March 06, 2008
Viktor Bout busted

In a day filled with news, some really big news: Arms Dealer Arrested in Thailand
Police Col. Petcharat Sengchai told reporters that Bout was wanted for conspiring to provide "weapons and explosives for Colombian rebels" known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The leftist FARC has been fighting Colombia's government for more than four decades, and funds itself largely through the cocaine trade and kidnapping for ransom.
...
He has been accused of trafficking weapons through a series of front companies to war-wracked Central and West Africa since the early 1990s. U.N. reports say he set up a network of more than 50 aircraft around the world, owned by small, tightly controlled companies including Bukavu Aviation Transport, Business Air Services and Great Lakes Business Co.

[angrycarpenter]

5. he wears the look of a man who knows he will walk out of jail

He will buy his way out of jail and walk out looking like the cat who swallowed the canary.

There is no punishment that will pay for the things that man has done.
They still do caning there I think. If he walks out I hope they at least whip his ass first.

[seemslikeadream]

7. Why Was Viktor Bout in Thailand When He Was Arrested?

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/03/why_was_viktor_bout_in_thailan.php

If he was shopping for arms, my educated hunch is he was buying surplus Chinese weapons from the Burmese junta. They have enormous stockpiles of weapons provided by China and need the cash. Bout used to buy up the huge cache of weaponry (mainly Chinese) at the border market between Thailand and Cambodia, but his consignment-amount of weapons aren't so available there anymore.

Bout may also have been in either Burma or Cambodia to illegally purchase end-user certificates which would allow him to purchase large amounts of weaponry illegally. One could also not rule out a meeting with North Korean arms dealers. North Korean operatives are active in Southeast Asia, where they purvey everything from weapons, to metamphetimines, to "Super Notes" (high-quality counterfeit U.S. dollars). The Koreans have a history of selling end-user certificates to unsavory figures. A few years ago they sold the Tamil Tigers end-user certificates that allowed them to purchase a large consignment of weapons from NORINCO.

Thailand is the regional transit hub, and it has a long history of being a center of narcotics trade and document forging. But since 9/11 the government has upgraded its intelligence capabilities as well as its border security. Bout was not the first big fish to be arrested there. These investments are paying dividends.

[Ian David]

8. Awww, my heart bleeds.

I guess he outlived his usefulness to The BFEE.

[seemslikeadream]

9. DEA Investigation Nabs Victor Bout for Conspiracy to Provide SAMs to a Foreign Terrorist Organizatio

http://www.dea.gov/pubs/pressrel/pr030608.html

International Arms Dealer Arrested On Terrorism Charges In Bangkok
DEA Investigation Nabs Victor Bout for Conspiracy to Provide SAMs to a Foreign Terrorist Organization

MAR 6 -- DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart and Michael J. Garcia, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the arrest of Victor Bout, an international arms dealer charged with 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 and co-defendant Andrew Smulian were arrested yesterday on the U.S. charges by Thai authorities in Bangkok.

According to court documents, 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 (CSs) working with the DEA, 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 Bout had 100 SAMs available immediately and could also provide helicopters and armor piercing rocket launchers. 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. During one of these conversations, Bout and Smulian discussed the $5 million delivery fee for the weapons.

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.