'Merchant of Death' arrested in Thailand

Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout faces extradition to US after being arrested in DEA sting.

By Arthur Bright

posted March 07, 2008 at 10:20 am EST

US and Thai authorities announced Thursday the capture of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the "Merchant of Death" for his sales of weapons to fighters in some of the world's most violent conflicts of the past decade.

The Associated Press reports that Mr. Bout was arrested Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand, where he had flown to negotiate an arms deal with DEA agents posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and now faces extradition to the US.

Viktor Bout, a 41-year-old whose dealings reportedly inspired a 2005 movie about the illicit arms trade, is accused of running weapons to al-Qaida, the Taliban and parties involved in bloody conflicts across Africa. He was arrested at a Bangkok hotel after a four-month sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Thai and U.S. authorities said.

"He is called the 'Merchant of Death' and 'Man of War' for a reason," Thomas Pasquarello, regional director of the DEA, said in Bangkok.

American authorities intend to extradite Bout but the timing still has to be "worked out" between the two nations, Pasquarello said.

The New York Times reports that Andrew Smulian, a business associate of Bout's, was also detained in Bangkok and faces possible extradition to the US. The Bangkok Post writes that Thai authorities are considering trying Bout in Thailand, though they may drop the charges to clear the way for Washington to take charge of Bout. RIA Novosti adds that Russia may also seek to extradite Bout, though Russian officials have not said whether he would face charges there.

The Financial Times reports that Bout has been accused of arms dealing for more than a decade. Bout, a former Soviet officer, allegedly bought aircraft and weapons from former Soviet states and sold them in military conflicts around the world.

UN investigations placed him at the centre of a network of logistics and aviation companies delivering weapons to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Johan Peleman, an arms trade expert who works for the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, said many of Mr Bout's aircraft were operating in Africa but in some cases "he has either sold them or sub-leased them for longer periods of time", making it difficult to link him to operations.

Michael Braun, assistant administrator of the DEA, gave some indication of the drama of investigation at the unsealing of the complaint in New York. "Someone will undoubtedly write a book about this case. I can tell you that it will read like the very best work of Tom Clancy, only in this case it won't be fiction."

The BBC writes in a profile of Bout that his nickname "merchant of death" was first coined by former British Foreign Minister Peter Hain.

After reading a 2003 report about him, Mr Hain said: "Bout is the leading merchant of death who is the principal conduit for planes and supply routes that take arms... from east Europe, principally Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine to Liberia and Angola.

"The UN has exposed Bout as the centre of a spider's web of shady arms dealers, diamond brokers and other operatives, sustaining the wars."

The BBC notes that the US ordered Bout's assets frozen in 2006, and banned Americans from doing business with him.

The Times of London reports that news of Bout's arrest was met with approval from Amnesty International, though officials of the human rights organization lamented that Bout was not brought to justice sooner.

Oliver Sprague, of Amnesty International UK, said: "While we welcome the fact that Viktor Bout has finally been arrested, why has it taken so long for this to happen?

"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."

Some reports suggest that Bout's long freedom may have been due to his involvement in the US's current efforts in Iraq. The National Post of Canada republished Thursday an article from 2004, in which it suggested that the US dragged its heels in pursuit of Bout because he had been ferrying supplies into Iraq for US forces.

Not only are [Bout's] pilots highly experienced at landing in war zones, they also come from mainly ex-Soviet countries. Hence, if their planes are shot down, there is no risk of American corpses being dragged through the streets -- with all the political fallout such a spectacle entails.

"The Americans are very pragmatic on these issues," said one former UN investigator and advisor on African sanctions. "After Sept. 11, there has been a lot of compromising relating to informants who might be of help in the [war on terror]."

U.S. officials deny any quid pro quo. "It is an outlandish charge to think that he is being protected," said Rick Grenell, chief spokesman for the U.S. mission to the UN. He said he has no knowledge of Bout's alleged activities in Iraq.

ABC News reported Thursday, however, that US officials have since admitted that Bout was indeed paid from Pentagon coffers to fly supplies into Iraq. In addition, the US military supplied Bout's air fleet with 500,000 gallons of free fuel for its Iraq missions.

In a January 2005 letter to Congress, then-Assistant Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz admitted the Defense Department "did conduct business with companies that, in turn, subcontracted work to second-tier providers who leased aircraft owned by companies associated with Mr. Bout."

At the time, Bout was already a wanted international fugitive. Intelligence officials had considered Bout one of the greatest threats to U.S. interests, in the same league as al Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden. Interpol had issued a warrant for his arrest; the United Nations Security Council had restricted his travel.

But that didn't stop U.S. government contractors from paying Bout-controlled firms roughly $60 million to fly supplies into Iraq in support of the U.S. war effort, according to a book released last year by two reporters who investigated Bout. And it didn't prevent the U.S. military from giving Bout's pilots millions of dollars in free airplane fuel while they were flying U.S. supply flights.

From 2003 through at least 2005, Pentagon contractors used air cargo companies known to be connected to Bout to fly an estimated 1,000 supply trips into and out of Iraq, according to "Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Plans, and the Man Who Makes War Possible" by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed to the authors that the military gave 500,000 gallons of fuel to Bout's pilots.

The article notes that Bout's employment by the US was first brought to light in a 2004 Financial Times report, in which an unnamed CIA official said that though the CIA warned colleagues in Iraq of the ties to Bout in 2003, but "It would appear...that [information] did not make its way to the correct folks."