BANGKOK (AFP) — 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.
The question is who will try him -- 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 former Soviet air force officer, aged 41, 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.
A beefy man with sharp blue eyes, Bout was escorted by around 15 police and heavily armed commandos as he was paraded before the media.
In 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 am," 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."
Thomas Pasquarello, regional director for the DEA, said they wanted him to be sent to the United States to face charges of aiding terrorists.
"He's called the 'Merchant of Death' and the 'Man of War' for a reason," he told reporters in the Thai capital.
"We have warrants for Mr Bout and we do intend to extradite him."
He said the logistics of extraditing him and putting him on trial would be decided jointly by Bangkok and Washington.
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.
He said if there was not enough evidence, Thailand would start proceedings to send Bout to the United States.
Bout and his close associate Andrew Smulian are wanted in the United States for conspiracy to provide support to a terrorist organisation, and face up to 15 years in jail if convicted.
Mystery surrounded the fate of Smulian, with Thai police saying they were still searching for him, while Pasquarello said cryptically that "he is not in custody in Thailand."
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.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
