Viktor Bout, Arrested in Thailand

'Lord of war' arms trafficker arrested
Duncan Campbell and Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
The Guardian, Friday March 7 2008


Thai police take Viktor Bout for questioning. Photograph: AP

If Viktor Bout did not exist, a thriller writer would have invented him. A former Russian lieutenant, he became one of the world's biggest arms dealers, flying his ancient Soviet planes into battlefields from Liberia to Afghanistan. His clients have included the Taliban and the US government, African warlords and the UN.

He has as many aliases as an AK-47 has rounds, and has acquired the nicknames Merchant of Death and Lord of War. Pursued for years by the intelligence services of the world, and tracked for months by Thai detectives, yesterday the elusive 41-year-old was finally arrested in a five star hotel in Bangkok.

This time Bout is accused of attempting to buy arms and explosives for leftwing Farc rebels in Colombia but the charge sheet could have listed half a dozen countries where governments might like to interview him. Accused of flouting UN arms embargos and wanted by Interpol, he was eventually arrested on a warrant issued by a Thai court acting on information from the US Drug Enforcement Administration. It is understood that DEA agents posed as arms buyers acting on behalf of Farc.

"We will take legal action against him here, before deporting him to face trial in another country, [most] likely the US," said Major General Pongpat Chayaphan, the commander of Thailand's crime suppression division. "We have followed him for several months. He just came back to Thailand today."

Bout's story is a classic end-of-the-cold-war morality tale. As a smart and opportunistic 25-year-old, he took advantage of three converging factors after the collapse of the USSR: the sudden availability of cheap, clapped out Soviet airforce planes, a massive stockpile of weapons and spare parts guarded only by underpaid and disgruntled servicemen, and the burgeoning demand for arms from countless conflict areas around the world. Soon he was flying arms to any government or militia that wanted them and filling his Antonov cargo planes with less lethal wares, from gladioli to diamonds, for equally lucrative return trips.

Initially, he provided cheap freight routes to whomever would pay, whether the Angolan government or Unita rebels, the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan or their Taliban opponents. After 2001, he worked for the US government and its civilian suppliers, shipping goods into Iraq on their behalf.

"In an age when the US president has divided the world into those who are with the United States and those who are against it, Bout is both," wrote Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, authors of Merchant of Death, the investigation into Bout which they published last year.

He has also flown peacekeepers for the UN to Somalia and aid to Sri Lanka, after the 2004 tsunami, and been accused of supplying the Liberian warlord, Charles Taylor.

Yuri Orlov, the character played by Nicholas Cage in Lord of War, the 2005 film about the international arms trade, is said to be modelled on Bout. Amnesty International has commended the film for highlighting the baleful effects of the arms trade. Doubtless Bout will one day be the subject of a film himself, played perhaps by Russell Crowe in a bad moustache, dark glasses and baseball cap; Bout rarely allows himself to be photographed.

As far as he was concerned, he was purely a businessman, providing an international freight service stripped of any ideology. As far as some aid agencies were concerned, on occasion Bout was the swiftest supplier of relief to disaster zones. As far as the then Foreign Office minister Peter Hain was concerned, when he denounced him in the House of Commons in 2000, he was a "merchant of death", cynically fuelling the civil wars in Africa.

Yesterday Hain welcomed news that Bout had been detained in Bangkok. "I am pleased he has been arrested," he said. "At the time I exposed him, he was running arms to Angola, Sierra Leone and Congo and taking out blood diamonds. It was a lethal trade and some of those weapons were used against British troops in Sierra Leone. I tried with MI6 to dismantle his activities and we were partially successful but he still has a lot of friends in Moscow."

Oliver Sprague, Amnesty International's UK arms programme director, also hailed the arrest. "While we welcome the fact that Victor Bout has finally been arrested, why has it taken so long for this to happen?" he asked. "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. Through their irresponsible arms transfers gun-runners like Bout have fuelled conflicts where dreadful human rights abuses have occurred."

Like any good fictional character, Bout has managed to muddy the waters of his past. He was supposedly born in Tajikistan but he has also claimed that he is from near the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan. Others suggest he is Ukrainian. His many passports carry variations of his name, with his western nom de guerre being Victor Butt. He is married, with at least one daughter.

Having studied at Moscow's military institute of foreign languages, he is multilingual, speaking everything from Uzbek to French, Portuguese to African dialects, but he denies that he was ever in the KGB.

"Bout would fly for anyone who paid," an associate told the Centre for Public Integrity in the US, which has long tracked his activities. "He is good because he takes the chances."

Although the US had made use of his services, the CIA targeted him and the US treasury froze his assets. Bout, with his companies registered in Liberia, fluttering countless flags of convenience, and with a lavish home in Moscow and powerful contacts around the world, continued undeterred. Until yesterday.

As to how he has survived untouched for so long, Farah and Braun quoted a South African associate of Bout: "You never shoot the postman."

Russian Charged With Trying to Sell Arms
Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Security officials in Bangkok on Thursday led away Viktor Bout after he was arrested. The United States charged him with conspiracy for trying to smuggle weapons to rebels in Colombia.

By DAVID JOHNSTON and SETH MYDANS
Published: March 7, 2008
WASHINGTON — A Russian businessman regarded by the United States as one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers was arrested in Thailand on Thursday as part of an American-led sting operation. He was promptly charged in the United States with conspiracy for trying to smuggle missiles and rocket launchers to rebels in Colombia.

Text of U.S. complaint against Viktor Bout and Andrew Smulian (U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York) http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/pressrelease...utcomplaint.pdf

The businessman, Viktor Bout, 41, is suspected of supplying weapons to the Taliban and Al Qaeda and of pouring huge arms shipments into Africa’s civil wars with his own private air fleet. He was arrested by the Thai authorities at a hotel in Bangkok in an operation in which undercover investigators posing as rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, sought to purchase millions of dollars in arms.

Federal prosecutors in New York said they would seek the extradition of Mr. Bout (pronounced boot) and an associate, Andrew Smulian, who was also detained in Bangkok on Thursday, to stand trial in the United States on a charge of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Although American officials said Thailand appeared to be eager to be rid of Mr. Bout, it was not known when he would be brought to the United States.

Michael J. Garcia, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that Mr. Bout “was apprehended in the final stages of arranging the sale of millions of dollars of high-powered weapons to people he believed to represent a known terrorist organization, the FARC.”

“Today’s arrest marks the culmination of a long-term D.E.A. undercover investigation that spanned the globe,” Mr. Garcia said, “and it marks the end of the reign of one of the world’s most wanted arms traffickers.”

The FARC is a leftist insurgency that has been fighting Colombia’s government for decades and is believed to finance its activities in part through cocaine trafficking. The FARC has been identified in the United States criminal code as a foreign terrorist group, and aiding such a group is a crime.

The arrest was set in motion by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, which alerted the Thai authorities that Mr. Bout was traveling to Thailand, said Police Col. Petcharat Sengchai of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok, who led the arresting team.

A criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan said the plans for a meeting with Mr. Bout in Thailand had taken shape after earlier meetings, most of them conducted by Mr. Smulian, with informants posing as FARC members in the Netherlands Antilles, Denmark and Romania.

The conversations were secretly recorded by drug enforcement agents. The actual size of the deal was not made clear from the documents released by the government, but the complaint indicated that Mr. Bout planned to charge a $5 million delivery fee to transport the surface-to-air missiles and armor-piercing rocket launchers to South America.

American officials have publicly identified Mr. Bout as a rogue weapons smuggler who profited mainly from arms dealing that fueled bloody conflicts in Africa. He was said to have built a shadowy network of air cargo companies in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and the United States.

Mr. Bout was born in what is now Tajikistan and educated at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow. He is said to have begun in the arms trade after his air force unit was disbanded with the breakup of the Soviet Union.

A mythology grew up around Mr. Bout in the 1990s, but in 2002 he appeared abruptly on a Moscow radio station, insisting that he was innocent and that he had never had contact with Taliban or Qaeda representatives. He said the accusations against him “resemble more a script for a Hollywood thriller.”

“I can say only one thing: I have never supplied or done anything, and I have never been in contact with either Taliban representatives or Al Qaeda representatives,” Mr. Bout said.

Mr. Bout’s career is said to have contributed to the character of the fictional arms trafficker depicted in the Nicolas Cage film “Lord of War.” American officials said he controlled the largest private fleet of Soviet-era cargo aircraft in the world.

Over the years, Mr. Bout used his companies and associates to operate an arms bazaar, selling guns, ammunition, even tanks and helicopters in deals that Treasury officials said inflamed conflicts in Afghanistan, Angola, Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

In July 2004, the Treasury Department froze Mr. Bout’s assets under American jurisdiction and in April 2005 took the same step against 30 companies and four people linked to Mr. Bout.

In 2007, the agency froze assets of an additional seven companies and three people who officials said acted with Mr. Bout to supply arms to Congo. In response to an American request, the United Nations placed most of the companies and people identified as linked to Mr. Bout on its own sanctions list.

Representative Ed Royce of California, the senior Republican on a House Foreign Affairs panel on terrorism and nonproliferation, said that despite international efforts to tamp down violence in Africa, Mr. Bout “was pouring fuel on the fire.”

“In U.N. report after U.N. report, Viktor Bout was cited as the chief sanctions buster, supplying arms to anyone who would pay,” Mr. Royce added.

Richard A Chichakli, 49, an American citizen who is a friend of Mr. Bout’s and who has been accused by the Treasury Department of being his business associate, disputed the government’s contention that Mr. Bout was a worldwide weapons trafficker.

Mr. Chichakli denies being in business with Mr. Bout and left the United States after his assets were frozen in 2005. He said in a telephone interview that the allegations about Mr. Bout’s arms dealing were overstated. “Things snowball when they start talking about him,” he said. “There are certain parts that are true. But the way they portray the man, it has nothing to do with reality. Out of a fish they make a blue whale.”

He expressed surprise and skepticism about the details in the criminal complaint, in part because Mr. Bout had been keeping a low profile in recent years.

“I’m surprised to see him involved in something like this,” he said. “When people are trying to say certain things about you, and you are trying to show the opposite, you should not get involved in something like this.”

Since 2006, he said, Mr. Bout had lived outside Moscow and owned a small factory that made building tiles. Mr. Chichakli said he did not know when Mr. Bout had left Russia on his latest trip. One security analyst said Mr. Bout had been in Thailand since January, regularly changing hotels.

The complaint against Mr. Bout and Mr. Smulian suggests that the investigation began in earnest in November 2007 and centered on an unidentified paid informer described in the complaint only as “CS-1,” for confidential source No. 1, who had known Mr. Bout since the mid-1990s and knew he was an arms dealer.

The informer sent e-mail messages to Mr. Bout through Mr. Smulian asking for a meeting about a possible deal, referring to Mr. Bout as “Boris” and weapons as “farming equipment.” In a Dec. 3, 2007, e-mail message, Mr. Smulian told CS-1, “Spoke to Boris, and anything is possible with farming equipment.”

On Feb. 22, the complaint said that Mr. Bout, who was believed to be in Russia, agreed to meet with the supposed FARC members in Thailand during the first week of March to complete the arrangements for the deal. Later, one undercover source told Mr. Smulian: “Get ready for travel.”

With Thursday’s arrest Mr. Bout, already the principal character of one book, “Merchant of Death,” by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, may well find himself the subject of another, said Michael A. Braun, the chief of operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, at a news conference in New York. “And I can tell you that it will read like the very best work of Tom Clancy,” he said. “Only in this case, it won’t be fiction.”

« Previous Page1 2
David Johnston reported from Washington, and Seth Mydans from Bangkok. Reporting was contributed by Benjamin Weiser and Graham Bowley in New York, C .J. Chivers in Moscow, and Raymond Bonner in London.

Friday, March 7, 2008. Issue 3857. Page 1.
Notorious Arms Dealer Arrested in Bangkok
By Nabi Abdullaev
Staff Writer

AP
Thai police officers escorting Viktor Bout, a Russian citizen who has been on an Interpol wanted list since 2002, in a Bangkok police station Thursday.

Viktor Bout, a Russian national widely reported as the world's most audacious gunrunner, was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday, Thai police said.

Reputedly the model for Nicolas Cage's character in the 2005 film Lord of War, Bout, 41, has been accused of violating UN mandated arms embargoes by supplying weapons to African war zones and the Taliban, illicitly trading in diamonds and money laundering.

Pongpat Chayapan, head of Thailand's Crime Suppression Bureau, said Thursday that Bout had been arrested on a warrant issued by a Thai court, based on a request from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, The Associated Press reported.

He said Bout would face criminal proceedings in Thailand and then be extradited to the United States.

Reuters, citing a report by Thai police, said Bout had come to Thailand on Feb. 29 "to procure weapons for Colombia's FARC rebels."

The 41-year-old owner of a private fleet of dozens of transport aircraft has had his assets frozen in the United States and is on Interpol's wanted list.

The Russian bureau of Interpol confirmed on Thursday that Bout had been on its list since February 2002, when Belgian police issued an international warrant, alleging that he was behind a scheme to launder the profits from sales of weapons in Africa.


A bureau official, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, said that even if he had been arrested in Russia, Bout would not have been extradited to a third country.

The Russian authorities have not shown much interest in arresting Bout, who gave interviews at the Moscow offices of Ekho Moskvy radio and the Izvestia newspaper not long after the international warrant was issued.

Richard Chichakli, who described himself as Bout's friend, said Thursday that the DEA request "was very strange, because Bout has never been accused of having anything to do with drugs," and arms trafficking is the purview of another agency in the United States.

In April 2005, the U.S. Treasury identified Chichakli, a Syrian-born U.S. citizen, as Bout's U.S.-based chief financial officer and ordered the freezing of his assets.



AP
Viktor Bout under arrest in Thailand

Chichakli said political motives were behind the arrest, after Bout had spent almost a decade traveling all around the world without encountering any difficulties, despite the sanctions against him.

"This is one way of not being so nice to Russia by someone in the U.S. administration," Chichakli said.

The DEA had not replied to a request for comment on the case by Thursday evening.

A native of Tajikistan and a military officer with a gift for languages, Bout got into the air-cargo business in the early 1990s, quickly building up a fleet of some 50 obsolete Soviet-era aircraft and a network of transport companies based in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and the United States.

UN arms experts and the U.S. government say Bout used his planes to supply military equipment to rebel groups in Angola, Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan, as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan, which was the subject of international arms sanctions.

In his 2002 interview with Izvestia, Bout denied any involvement in the illegal arms trade, saying the accusations were attempts by his business rivals to squeeze him out of his African operations.

In the Ekho Moskvy interview he said his planes had been used to deliver cargoes to Afghanistan in the 1990s but stressed that "what is shipped and how is determined not by the owner of the carrier but by those who arrange the specific shipment."

Asked about U.S. accusations that he had sold weapons to al-Qaida, Bout spoke almost as if he knew his story would end up on the big screen.

"This looks more like a plot for a Hollywood action movie," he said.

'Merchant of death' held in Bangkok
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia/...ok-1309027.html

Arrested Russian Arms Dealer Had Long History in Africa
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-03-07-voa55.cfm

Wednesday, March 12, 2008. Issue 3859. Page 3.
Thailand Denies Bail for Arms Trafficker
MT, AP
Russia will not seek the extradition of suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is wanted by the United States and was arrested in Thailand last week, Interfax reported Tuesday.

"The relevant Russian authorities conducted a thorough probe regarding Bout and determined that law enforcement authorities have no claims against him," a senior official in the Russian security services said, Interfax reported. "There is no criminal case whatsoever against Bout in Russia."

Bout, 41, was arrested last week at a Bangkok luxury hotel after a U.S.-led sting operation. He was charged with conspiracy for trying to smuggle missiles and rocket launchers to a Colombian rebel group that is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

A Thai court denied Bout bail Tuesday, saying it feared the suspect might try to flee the country, his lawyer said.

Bout, also known as "The Merchant of Death," is being held in a Thai prison while authorities investigate whether he used the country as a base to negotiate the deal with terrorists. The Russian denies any wrongdoing and applied for bail Tuesday.

"The court has denied bail," his lawyer, Lak Nitiwatanavichan, said. "The suspect is being detained on severe charges for alleged engagement with international terrorists and the court said if it grants bail the suspect might escape."


Suspects can be held up to 84 days in Thailand without being formally charged.

If convicted, Bout could face 10 years in prison on the Thai charge, and 15 years in the United States, which is seeking Bout's extradition.

A purported associate of Bout's, Andrew Smulian, appeared Monday in a New York City courtroom to face similar charges, prosecutors in New York said. Smulian, who was arrested Friday in New York, did not enter a plea and was held without bail.

To capture Bout, undercover agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration posed as rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, seeking to purchase millions of dollars' worth of weapons.

The United States and UN officials have long identified Bout as a weapons smuggler whose alleged list of customers included former dictator Charles Taylor of Liberia, the Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, the late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, and both sides of the civil war in Angola.

Bout also reportedly supplied arms to warring parties in Afghanistan before the 2001 fall of the Taliban's Islamic regime.

April 13, 2008
Sunday Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle3736049.ece

'He's a poet, not the lord of war', says wife of gunrunner Viktor Bout
Alleged gunrunner’s wife says she saw no sign of huge arms shipments Mark Franchetti, Moscow

WHEN Viktor Bout, the arms dealer dubbed the “merchant of death”, settled down at home with his wife Alla to watch a Hollywood action film based on his life, he did not expect to be amused. But by the time Lord of War - starring Nicolas Cage as the law-breaking gunrunner - had come to an end, he was laughing uproariously.

“It seemed so ridiculous that Cage was playing a character supposedly modelled on Viktor that we found it very funny,” said Alla, Bout’s wife of 16 years. “What a load of rubbish. The only resemblance is that both Cage in the film and Viktor in real life speak several languages. The rest is just fantasy. Viktor is no international arms baron.”

The American authorities beg to differ. They say Bout has fuelled civil wars in Africa and supplied terrorists with arms for more than a decade. Last month Bout, 41, was arrested in a USled sting at a hotel in Bangkok in which undercover agents posed as arms buyers. He was charged with conspiring to smuggle missiles and rocket launchers to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), a rebel group listed by the US as a terrorist organisation.

Bout languishes in a Bangkok prison, even though the Thai authorities dropped charges against him last week. Police said they would seek court approval to extradite him to the United States, where he faces up to 15 years in jail.

Bout, who dismissed the charges as “fabricated American accusations”, issued a statement in prison, pleading for the Kremlin to come to his aid. In Moscow, where Bout is not a wanted man, the foreign ministry said it would intervene on his behalf, a move that is bound to strain relations with Washington.

In her first interview with a western newspaper, Alla, 44, said she had managed to speak to her husband briefly on the phone last week. It was their first conversation since his arrest.

“He sounded strong and determined,” she said. “He asked about our daughter, sought to comfort me and told me he loves me. I said I wanted to fly out to Thailand but he told me not to do so under any circumstances.”

It is alleged that at the height of Bout’s gunrunning operations he was supplying arms to the Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, Unita rebels in Angola and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He ran the world’s largest private fleet of heavy-lift Antonov cargo aircraft. The weapons he sent to Taylor ended up in the hands of Sierra Leone’s child soldiers, who became notorious for murder, rape and hacking off the limbs of their victims.

A 2005 report by Amnesty International said Bout was “the most prominent foreign businessman” selling arms to countries embargoed by the United Nations, such as Bulgaria, Slova-kia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

Sitting in the lobby of a Moscow hotel, Alla said her husband’s trip to Thailand had been his first outside Russia in years. He told her he was going to a spa to lose weight and would be studying Thai cookery. She was to join him later for a holiday with their 13-year-old daughter Elizaveta. According to Alla, Bout did not fear arrest because the Belgian authorities had closed a case in which he was alleged to have laundered £150m made from gunrunning.

“For years we’ve been living in Moscow,” she said. “Viktor drove a car registered in his name. He wasn’t in hiding. He’s not wanted by the Russian authorities and the Americans have never demanded his extradition or sought to question him.”

The US believes Bout has close links with Russian military intelligence and claims he has made a fortune from his illicit trade. Alla, a designer, rejected this as absurd and denied her husband was rich.

She chain-smoked as she recalled meeting Bout and falling in love with him in Mozambique in 1989. Bout was serving as an interpreter after graduating from Moscow’s military language school, a fertile recruiting ground for intelligence officers. Alla was living in Mozambique with her husband of that time, an official from the Soviet Union’s trade ministry. “We understood each other at once,” Alla recalled. “There was no need to speak. It was love at first sight. He’s a very sensitive and romantic person, an avid reader who writes his own poetry.”

After leaving her first husband she became engaged to Bout. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union he gave up his career with the military and started looking for business opportunities.

In 1993 the couple moved to Sharjah, in the Gulf, where Bout saw a chance to launch a career in the aviation industry. “In Africa he had learnt that because there were hardly any roads there was great potential in air transport. This, at the time of the Soviet collapse, when there were plenty of planes available.”

Bout’s first aviation company grew quickly. “He worked a lot in Africa, transporting all sorts of things - ostriches, UN soldiers, livestock,” she recalled. “If Viktor ever transported arms I’ve no doubt that he acted legally. We lived well, had a small villa and cars, but were never swimming in money. We never had any yachts or anything like that.”

It has been alleged that Bout hid his clandestine missions behind a network of legitimate operations. In 2000 he flew United Nations peacekeepers to East Timor at the same time as the UN was accusing him of sanctions-busting in Africa. In Iraq, US contractors hired him to fly in supplies at the time the Treasury Department was freezing his assets under orders from President George W Bush.

Bout’s wife says he closed his business in 2001, when his name was publicly linked to arms smuggling in a UN report, because he was squeezed out by local bureaucrats.

“We only rarely talked about his work but I’ve no doubt in my mind that he never did anything illegal,” said Alla. “All the stories about him are myths. All this attention to him is a farce, just like his arrest was a big spectacle orchestrated by America and the CIA. Viktor has done nothing wrong and he should be sent back to Russia.”

'Merchant of Death' defense says no extradition to U.S.
16:43 | 11/ 06/ 2008


MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) - A lawyer for an alleged Russian arms dealer in custody in Thailand on suspicion of illegal arms trading and other crimes, said Wednesday his client is unlikely to be extradited to the United States.

Earlier Wednesday, AFP quoted U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey as saying he was "very optimistic" about Viktor Bout extradition chances to face terrorism charges in the U.S.

Bout's lawyer, Yan Dasgupta, said regarding Mukasey's statement: "I do not share the optimism of the respected U.S. attorney general. I think the process will go properly and will result in a refusal [to extradite Bout]. There are no prospects for extradition - the request and charges are insane. They were spun out of thin air."

He also said the defense considers the extradition request in legal terms is out of line with an international extradition agreement between the U.S. and Thailand.

Earlier a Thai court postponed until July 28 the first hearing of Viktor Bout's extradition case as Bout's Thai lawyer had developed "a heart problem."

Thailand received in early May a formal request from Washington to extradite Bout to the U.S., where he has been indicted on four charges: conspiracy to kill Americans, and U.S. officers or employees, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.

Viktor Bout, 41, was arrested in March in Bangkok during a joint police operation led by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

DEA prosecutors claim that Bout conspired with others to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a leftist group listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.

Bout is a former lieutenant in the Russian military who quit the armed forces in 1991. He then allegedly transformed himself into an international arms dealer, earning the nickname 'the Merchant of Death.' The Western media has consistently referred to him as a "former KGB officer."

If convicted, he could face life imprisonment or, at the very least, a long prison term.

Western law enforcement agencies consider him to be "the most prominent foreign businessman" involved in trafficking arms to UN-embargoed destinations.

UN reports say Bout set up a network of more than 50 cargo aircraft around the world to facilitate his arms shipments.

U.S. authorities took measures against Bout in 2005, freezing his bank accounts and submitting a list of 30 companies linked to Bout to the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee.

Russia
Thai prosecution of 'Merchant of Death' illegal - lawyer
19:02 | 16/ 06/ 2008



MOSCOW, June 16 (RIA Novosti) -- A lawyer for an alleged Russian arms dealer in custody in Thailand said on Monday that Thai authorities had illegally opened a criminal case against his client.

Yan Dasgupta told Ekho Moskvy radio that Viktor Bout, 41, had been detained by Thai authorities solely to keep him in custody pending a formal extradition request from the United States.

"The Thai criminal case was opened in breach of the law... It is a serious crime, even by Thailand's own legal standards," the counsel said.

"It is simply outrageous - a complete violation of due process. We will take this matter up - there is no question about that," he added.

Bout was arrested in March in Bangkok during a joint police operation led by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

DEA prosecutors claim that Bout conspired with others to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a leftist group listed by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.

Dasgupta said however that no one in Thailand had ever intended to investigate either Bout's alleged crimes or put him on trial and that he had been detained because "the U.S. had failed to file a formal arrest warrant in time."

Earlier a Thai court postponed until July 28 the first hearing of Bout's extradition case as his Thai lawyer had developed "a heart problem."

Thailand received in early May a formal request from Washington to extradite Bout to the U.S., where he has been indicted on four charges: conspiracy to kill Americans and U.S. officers or employees, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.

Western law enforcement agencies consider Bout to be "the most prominent foreign businessman" involved in trafficking arms to UN-embargoed destinations.

UN reports say Bout set up a network of more than 50 cargo aircraft around the world to facilitate his arms shipments, earning the nickname 'the Merchant of Death.'

Hearing for alleged Russian arms dealer continues
By AMBIKA AAHUJA – Oct 10, 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — The defense lawyer for a Russian man alleged to be one of the world's biggest arms dealers said Friday that his client would not receive a fair trial if extradited to the United States.

The United States is seeking the extradition from Thailand of Viktor Bout, who has been indicted in the U.S. on four terrorism-related charges. He was arrested in Thailand on March 6.

"My client is innocent. We are trying to prove that he would not get a fair trial" in the U.S., defense attorney Chamroen Panompakakorn said outside the courtroom of the Bangkok Criminal Court.

In cross-examination for the defense, Chamroen had asked a witness, an official from Thailand's Interior Ministry, whether he was aware of the case of Hambali, alleged to have been a key Muslim terrorist leader in Southeast Asia.

Hambali, an Indonesian whose real name is Riduan Isamuddin, was captured in Thailand in 2003 and later transferred to the U.S. military jail at Guantanamo Bay where he is being held without trial.

The 41-year-old Russian has been dubbed "The Merchant of Death," by the media, but he denies any involvement in illicit activities. He was purportedly the model for the arms dealer portrayed by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 movie "Lord of War."

According to reports by U.N. agencies and several Western governments, he has delivered arms to dictators and warlords in Africa and Afghanistan, allegedly breaking several U.N. arms embargoes in the process.

After testimony by the Thai Interior Ministry official, the court heard from Russian parliament member Sergei Ivanov, who said Bout did not commit the alleged crime.

Ivanov said Bout spoke to him before coming to Thailand to gather information on the aviation and construction business.

Ivanov said he personally thought that the arrest was "a step backward for the relationship" between Russia and Thailand and that it could hurt economic ties between the countries.

Bout's lawyers have also petitioned the court to dismiss the case on the grounds that he had been illegally detained.

Bout was arrested in Bangkok in a sting operation in which undercover U.S. agents posed as Latin American rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

During an earlier hearing, an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the agency set up the operation that lured Bout from Russia to his arrest in the Thai capital.

"Mr. Bout is one of the biggest arms dealers in the world," said DEA agent Robert Zachariasiewicz.

He said Bout supplied "sophisticated and military-grade weapons, from rifles to missiles" to organizations fighting legitimate governments in conflict areas such as Afghanistan, Africa and South America.

Zachariasiewicz said Bout faces U.S. charges of conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to kill U.S. officers or employees, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile. He could face a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The charges were based in part on a covertly recorded meeting in Thailand on March 6.

U.S. prosecutors say Bout was offering a deadly arsenal of weapons to FARC, including more than 700 surface-to-air missiles, thousands of guns, high-tech helicopters, and airplanes outfitted with grenade launchers and missiles. The U.S. classifies FARC as a terrorist organization.

The next hearing is expected on Nov. 4.

Updated: http://gangstersinc.tripod.com/VictorBout.html

Alleged Russian arms dealer appears in Thai court
The Associated PressPublished: November 4, 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand: The defense lawyer for a Russian man alleged to be one of the world's biggest arms dealers told a Thai court Tuesday that his client had been illegally detained and should be released.

The United States is seeking the extradition of Viktor Bout, who has been indicted in the U.S. on four terrorism-related charges. He was arrested in Thailand in March.

Defense attorney Preecha Prasertsak petitioned the court to dismiss the extradition case, arguing that his client had been illegally detained when he was first arrested.

"His detention was based on a flawed arrest warrant," Preecha said, because the arrest warrant issued two days before Bout was detained at a luxury Bangkok hotel was not dated.

The 41-year-old Russian has been dubbed "The Merchant of Death" by the media, but he denies any involvement in illicit activities. He was purportedly the model for the arms dealer portrayed by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 movie "Lord of War."

Today in Asia - Pacific
U.S. electricity project forges ahead despite Afghan terrain and TalibanAn artist in exile tests India's democratic idealsThreats of revenge as 3 executed for Bali bombingsAccording to reports by U.N. agencies and several Western governments, Bout has delivered arms to dictators and warlords in Africa and Afghanistan, allegedly breaking several U.N. arms embargoes in the process.

The original arrest warrant issued in Thailand was based on a charge of using the country as a base to negotiate a weapons deal with terrorists. But that charge was dropped in April and a second arrest warrant was issued to ask for his extradition to the United States.

Prosecutor Sanchai Krungkanjana argued that the first arrest warrant had been dropped because "there was insufficient evidence in Thailand" but there was enough evidence in the U.S. to approve Bout's extradition and the second warrant.

"We don't see any grounds to prove that it was an illegal detention," Sanchai told The Associated Press after the hearing.

In previous court appearances, Bout's lawyers argued to have the case dismissed on the grounds that their client would not receive a fair trial in the U.S.

Bout was arrested in Bangkok in a sting operation in which undercover U.S. agents posed as Latin American rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

During an earlier hearing, an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the agency set up the operation that lured Bout from Russia to his arrest in the Thai capital.

DEA agent Robert Zachariasiewicz said Bout faces U.S. charges of conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to kill U.S. officers or employees, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile. He could face a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The next hearing is expected on Nov. 18.

Russian Arms Dealer Bout Takes Stand in Thai Court, AP Says

By Michael Heath

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, dubbed the “merchant of death,” took the stand in a Thai court today to deny conspiring to arm Colombian rebels and to fight extradition to the U.S, the Associated Press reported.

“I didn’t do anything wrong in Thailand. I have never been to Colombia or the United States,” Bout, 41, told the court at the start of his testimony.

Bout is accused of supplying arms to terrorist groups after he was apprehended in Bangkok earlier this year allegedly arranging a deal to sell millions of dollars worth of missiles and rocket launchers.

The buyers were U.S. undercover agents whom Bout believed were with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a Marxist guerrilla group that has fought Colombian authorities for 40 years. Bout controls as many as 50 aircraft, according to Amnesty International, and specializes in delivering arms around the world.

The Notorious Mr. Bout
Will he tango to freedom with a pass from Thai courts?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...9081202882.html
Thursday, August 13, 2009

THE WIFE OF Viktor Bout, the international arms merchant nabbed last year by undercover American drug agents posing as weapons-hungry Colombian rebels, insists that her husband's interest in South America extends only to "tango lessons." Like his wife, Mr. Bout, a former Russian air force officer, has also taken the international community for fools while, U.S. officials say, he went about ferrying millions of dollars worth of military equipment to rogue nations, terrorist groups and rebels of every ideological stripe on four continents while insisting that he was an honest businessman. Now, despite evidence that he planned a huge sale of arms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Thai court has handed Mr. Bout a victory by rejecting his extradition to stand trial in the United States. Will Thailand allow Mr. Bout to continue playing the world for fools?

In the view of U.S. and international officials, Mr. Bout, dubbed "the Merchant of Death" by journalists Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun in their book of the same name, has probably done more to bust international sanctions and fuel bloody conflicts around the world than any man alive. Operating from his home in Moscow, where his close ties with military and intelligence circles apparently afforded him protection, he built what was believed to be the world's most formidable one-stop shop for black-market weaponry, up to and including tanks, helicopters and surface-to-air missiles. He controlled a large fleet of former Soviet aircraft, which he used to ferry goods anywhere and everywhere -- including into Baghdad on behalf of the United States following the invasion of Iraq. In a hugely profitable, two-decade-long career, his customers are believed to have included outlaw governments, armed factions and terrorists in the Philippines, Lebanon, Afghanistan and, especially, some of the more violent and lawless countries in Africa.
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The noose started to tighten on Mr. Bout a few years ago, when his movements were cramped by an arrest warrant issued by Belgium, a travel ban imposed by the United Nations and sanctions levied by Washington. Possibly, it was a tougher business climate that led Mr. Bout to drop his guard and agree to travel to Thailand in March last year to meet with agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration posing as FARC rebels. Shortly after arriving at his hotel in Bangkok, Mr. Bout was arrested by Thai authorities working with the DEA.

Since then, the Kremlin, which has expressed its contempt for international law by tolerating or approving of Mr. Bout's arms enterprise, has pressed hard for his release, selling the Thais cheap oil, talking about selling them fighter jets and, as has been hinted by U.S. officials, offering bribes. Not long ago, one of the Thai judges hearing Mr. Bout's case mused publicly that the court's decision on his extradition would anger either Washington or Moscow. In a decision rendered Tuesday, the court handed Mr. Bout a victory, arguing that the FARC, notorious for its kidnapping and cocaine trafficking, was a political group, not a terrorist one, and in any event, no affair of Thailand's.

Thai prosecutors were expected to file an immediate appeal in order to block Mr. Bout's release. Moscow, which shudders to think of Mr. Bout telling American authorities what he may know of the Kremlin's possible ties to illegal arms trafficking, rejoiced. And it remained undecided whether Thai courts will help bring one of the world's most dangerous men to justice, or allow him to go free to pursue his passion for tango.

V for Viktor ... Bout defies US attempt to try him for gunrunning

• Court in Thailand refuses to extradite Russian
• Accused of selling millions of dollars of arms to rebels

* Buzz up!
* Digg it

* Caroline Davies
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 11 August 2009 21.16 BST
* Article history

Viktor Bout leaves criminal court in Bangkok

Viktor Bout leaves the criminal court in Bangkok after a Thai judge ruled that he could not be extradited to face charges in the United States. Photograph: Narong Sangnak/EPA

Had Hollywood not already fictionalised Viktor Bout's extraordinary life in the arms-dealing blockbuster Lord of War, events today might have provided a fitting closing scene and set it up nicely for a sequel.

For in front of a febrile media throng, a grinning, mustachioed Bout, 42, allegedly the world's biggest gunrunner, flashed a victory sign as he sauntered from a Bangkok court after a Thai judge refused to extradite him to the United States.

Pursued for years by the world's intelligence services, and tracked for months by US and Thai agents, the "Merchant of Death", as the former Russian air force officer is known, has once more escaped prosecution, it seems.

The US now has three days to appeal. If not, or if any appeal is dismissed, the man whose reputation as the "McDonald's" of the arms trade inspired the Nicolas Cage character Yuri Orlov in the 2005 film, will walk free.

Today's result was a bitter blow to all who have sought to see Bout face trial. Though the charge sheet accused him of conspiracy to sell millions of dollars of weapons to the leftwing Farc rebels in Colombia, he is alleged to have sold or brokered arms deals in just about every world conflict of the last two decades, charges he has denied.

No effort had been spared in trying to trap him. US Drug Enforcement Administration agents set up an elaborate sting to lure him from the safety of his Moscow home, where he lives under the seemingly protective eye of the Russian authorities, to a five-star hotel in Bangkok in March 2008.

There, undercover officers posed as arms buyers for Farc, complete with a shopping list said to extend to 700 surface-to-air missiles, 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, C-4 explosives, landmines and unmanned aerial vehicles.

But, there was just one flaw. While America may view Farc as a terrorist organisation, Thailand does not.

"The US charges are not applicable under Thai law. This is a political case," ruled Judge Jittakorn Wattanasin delivering the verdict at Bangkok's criminal court.

"The Farc is fighting for a political cause and is not a criminal gang. Thailand does not recognise the Farc as a terrorist group. We will not extradite him to the United States."

Bout, dressed in faded orange prison uniform, jumped from his seat to embrace his tearful wife, Alla, before being led from the courtroom. "I am very happy," she sobbed. "The judge showed professionalism in this case."

There was similar sentiment in Moscow. "We view this decision with satisfaction, and we hope that in the nearest future, Viktor Bout will return to the motherland," Interfax quoted a Russian foreign ministry spokesman as saying.

James Entwistle, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Thailand, said: "We're disappointed and mystified by the lower court ruling. We will consult the Thai government. We understand they want to file a petition and we support that."

Bout has always denied involvement in the illegal arms trade, saying he is involved only in cargo transportation. As for Bangkok, he was there "to relax" and hold talks with "a Thai businessman who wanted to buy aeroplanes".

A burly six-footer – he has lost weight in the 18 months he has spent in a maximum security Bangkok prison awaiting the extradition decision – Bout is a regular fixture on international most-wanted lists. He is the subject of UN sanctions, an Interpol notice over weapons trafficking and money laundering charges in Belgium, and an assets freeze by the US.

It was on the back of a crumbling Soviet empire in the early 1990s that he set up business, enthusiastically buying up the ancient Antonov and Ilyushin cargo planes strewn around decaying airfields of former Soviet-bloc countries, as well as the massive stockpile of weapons and spare parts available. His cargoes have ranged from gladioli to diamonds.

His supposed client list was once described as a who's who of the world's nastiest warlords, and he has been accused by the UN of trafficking arms and breaking arms embargos in hotspots such as Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and Sudan. In Afghanistan, it is alleged he suppled weapons to all sides; the Northern Alliance, the Taliban and the US.

But his clients are also said to include western governments and aid agencies. Business is business.

In rare interviews with western media, Bout said had he been in it "just for the money" he would be richer. There is speculation he is worth $6bn, though he has said he is bankrupt. "Heart and mind" dictate his business ventures, he once said. The US had hoped to try him on four separate charges, three of which could land him in prison for life if found guilty.

Now, with Bout on the verge of being free, Hollywood scriptwriters may once more be sharpening their pencils. And this time, reality may prove far stranger than fiction.


Attached Image (Click thumbnail to expand)

Thai court rejects Viktor Bout's bail request

BANGKOK, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - A Thai court refused on Wednesday to release alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout on bail and under guarantees from his lawyer and Russian diplomats.

Bout's family earlier appealed to the Bangkok Criminal Court to release him on bail in a motion submitted by his defense and Russian Embassy officials.

The court said it could not grant Bout bail because the Thai prosecutors representing the United States had submitted an extradition appeal to a Thai court and due to the "high risk of the Russian leaving Thailand."

The amount of bail offered by the Bout's family was $45,000.

Bout's wife has said he has no intention to leave Thailand until court proceedings are completely finished.

One of Bout's lawyers said on Wednesday that the defense could try two more times to request Bout's release on bail until his case is submitted to the appeals court.

Former Russian army officer Bout, 42, was arrested in Thailand in March 2008 during a sting operation led by U.S. agents.

The Bangkok Criminal Court refused in August to extradite Bout to the United States, where he is accused of conspiring with others to sell millions of dollars' worth of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), among other illegal arms deals, and "threatening lives of U.S. citizens."

Thai prosecutors representing Washington in the trial lodged an appeal on August 26 against the Bangkok court's ruling. The appeal process could take several months but the appeals court ruling will be final, as Thailand's Supreme Court does not review extradition cases.

Bout, a former Soviet air force officer, has been linked to some of the world's most notorious conflicts, allegedly supplying arms to former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. He has repeatedly denied the accusations.

The United States is seeking Bout's extradition on charges he conspired to sell FARC weapons including more than 700 surface-to-air missiles, thousands of guns, high-tech helicopters and airplanes outfitted with grenade launchers and missiles. He has been indicted on four terrorism-related charges in New York and could face up to life in jail.

Bout's nickname, the "Merchant of Death," came in 2000 from a minister at Britain's Foreign Office who was concerned about Bout allegedly ferrying weapons around Africa. He has been the subject of UN sanctions, a Belgian money-laundering indictment and an assets freeze by the United States.

DEA chases arms dealer

By Richard S. Ehrlich
Thursday, November 5, 2009
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/n...es-arms-dealer/

Newly obtained documents prepared by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) describe an elaborate sting operation to capture purported weapons trafficker Viktor Bout in Bangkok and America's current appeal to extradite him to New York.

However, the documents, made public recently, do not confirm that Mr. Bout had access to the weapons or where the arms and ammunition were located.

Mr. Bout, a Russian citizen, has been dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for his long years as a purported international weapons dealer involved in both legal and illegal transfers.

The U.S. indictment says that when Mr. Bout was in Bangkok last year, he "agreed to provide the FARC [Colombian rebels] with millions of dollars' worth of weapons to be used, among other things, to kill nationals of the United States in Colombia," including "officers and employees of the United States" on "official duties."

U.S. Deputy Attorney General David Ogden said in Bangkok last month that he told Thai officials Mr. Bout "stands charged with extremely serious crimes against Americans."

The case against Mr. Bout appeared to fall apart in August when Bangkok's Criminal Court dropped all charges against him.

The Thai judge said Bangkok "does not have the authority to punish actions done by foreigners against other foreigners in another country."

The newly released documents are from America's appeal, which is winding its way through Thailand's justice system.

The documents do not deal with the previous judge's decision about Thai jurisdiction over foreigners and instead focus on efforts to have Mr. Bout extradited to the U.S.

Mr. Bout, 42, was arrested in March 2008 in a Bangkok hotel during a U.S.-led sting operation and remains incarcerated in a Bangkok prison.

He has denied all charges of wrongdoing.

The DEA's "rebuttal affidavit" and "evidence" were posted online in mid-October by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), a Washington-based group founded in 1945 by scientists who developed the world's first atomic bombs.

"Documents provided to the Federation of American Scientists, by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, provide additional details about the case against alleged arms trafficker Viktor Bout, but many important questions remain -- publicly -- unanswered," FAS says on its Web page.

In Washington, the DEA confirmed the authenticity of the documents but declined further comment.

The scientists appeared concerned about sophisticated weapons reportedly mentioned by Mr. Bout and their possible availability on the international black market.

The documents include photocopies of items purportedly seized from Mr. Bout in Bangkok when he was arrested.

"Exhibit 1" in the Bout Rebuttal Affidavit in Support of Extradition, dated Feb. 17, 2009, is an e-mail from "Agregatum Mobile" through gmail.com, to "Amigo" -- also known as "bogotazo32" at yahoo.com -- which reads:

"Buenos Dias! This is email we can use for communication Best Regards Friend of Andrew."

The DEA said "records maintained by the e-mail service provider of the gmail.com email address" indicated it was actually from Mr. Bout to a U.S.-paid DEA "confidential source" whom Mr. Bout trusted.

Transcripts of written, telephone and verbal communications appear vital to the U.S. case against Mr. Bout.

In sworn affidavits, the DEA describes nicknames, coded language, wiretapped phone conversations and furtive e-mails to and from Andrew Smulian and others as secretive messages about Mr. Bout's supposed intentions in Bangkok.

Mr. Smulian was later jailed in the United States after his arrest on charges of being Mr. Bout's colleague in crime.

The documents include "pamphlets on Soviet-era cargo planes that Bout, in Bangkok, allegedly recommended for delivering weapons to the FARC" and "a map of South America that Bout reportedly used in discussions about the locations of American radar stations."

An intriguing document, Exhibit 5, is described by the DEA as "notes handwritten by Bout during the meeting regarding the details of the weapons deal" in Bangkok.

"The notes include short-hand references to various weapons, including 'AA' or anti-aircraft, believed to be a reference to Igla missiles; 'AK-47' [assault rifles]; 'UAV' unmanned aerial vehicle; 10,000,000 '7,62 x 54' ammunition used in Russian Dragunov sniper rifles and PKM machine guns; RPG-7 and RPG-22 rocket launchers; and 'AG-17,' presumably a reference to the AGS-17 30mm automatic grenade launcher," the FAS said.

"Some of the notes are more cryptic, including references to 500 '60 mm', 200 '82 mm' and 40 '120 mm.' Presumably, these are references to mortars since 60mm, 82mm and 120mm are all common calibers for mortar bombs," Federation said.

The DEA said it also seized a computer memory stick from Mr. Bout that contained technical military documents describing a missile.

"It appears that missile on offer was the AT-4 Spigot, a wire-guided Russian missile system that has a maximum range of 2,000-2,500 meters and can penetrate up to 400-460mm of armor, depending on the type of missile used," FAS said.

FAS said the documents it received from the case United States of America v. Viktor Bout do not confirm whether Mr. Bout or his colleague "actually had access to the weapons that they allegedly promised to deliver to the FARC," which Washington considers a terrorist group.

"This question is particularly important in regards to the 100 shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles," which can shoot down military and commercial planes, the group said.

It also was unclear where the weapons were located, despite claims some were available in Bulgaria, the federation said.

Mr. Bout, a Russian citizen, has been dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for his long years as a purported international weapons dealer involved in both legal and illegal transfers.

Viktor Bout now on a plane to USA and is risking life in prison.

i dont like this. He have never even been in the US. how can he be sentenced there? let the russians have him, or a country he have been in...

Accused arms dealer Viktor Bout pleads not guilty
Nov 17, 2010
BBC News

Russian suspected arms dealer Viktor Bout has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges, hours after he was extradited to the US from Thailand.

The former Russian air force officer is accused of trying to sell arms to Colombian rebels and supplying weapons used in Africa and the Middle East.

The case has heightened tensions with Russia, where officials said it could threaten co-operation in Afghanistan.

Mr Bout faces 25 years in prison if convicted.

In a statement, US Attorney General Eric Holder called Mr Bout one of the world's most prolific arms traffickers.

Mr Bout is being held without bail in a high-security prison in New York City pending trial. He is next due in court in January.

According to the indictment, in 2007 and 2008 Mr Bout met informants for the US Drug Enforcement Agency in Thailand whom he believed to be agents of the Farc, a Columbian rebel group the US calls a "narco-terrorist organisation".

Prosecutor say he agreed to sell them millions of dollars worth of heavy weaponry, including surface-to-air missile systems, armour-piercing rocket launchers, assault rifles and ammunition, land mines, explosives, night-vision equipment and aircraft.

Mr Bout was subsequently arrested by Thai police in Bangkok. After two years of diplomatic wrangling with Thailand and Russia, he was flown to the US early on Tuesday.

He is charged with conspiracy to kill US nationals and government officers, conspiracy to use an anti-aircraft missile and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.

If convicted Mr Bout faces 25 years in prison.

Let the Russian's have him, that's a good one! Viktor Bout has a very close relationship with the Russian intelligence services. I am surprised he is still living, to tell you the truth.

It will be interesting to see if the US trades him for somebody (Mogilevich?).

Judge shoots down bid to toss indictment of accused arms dealer Viktor Bout
By Bruce Golding, New York Post, August 2, 2011

Accused international arms dealer Viktor Bout got shot down for a second time today in a bid to toss out charges he schemed to sell weapons to a Colombian terror group.

Manhattan federal Judge Shira Scheindlin said Bout -- nicknamed the "Merchant of Death" -- failed to prove the feds "vindictively" targeted him in the wake of embarrassing revelations that he helped provide tents, food and other supplies to American troops in Iraq.

Scheindlin cited the "nearly two years" it took for the Drug Enforcement Administration to begin investigating Bout after the 2006 reports, along with "his assistance to war criminals and to outlawed and extremely violent regimes in Liberia, Angola and the Congo."

Scheindlin also rejected the former Soviet military officer's claim -- based on two secret State Department cables released by WikiLeaks -- that the feds applied "enormous, coercive political pressure" to get him extradited from Thailand after he was busted there in 2008 following a DEA sting operation.

Defense lawyer Albert Dayan told Bloomberg News: "I am now looking forward to trial in October, where I’m confident it will become clear that this was a completely DEA-created sting and that Mr. Bout never intended to transport arms to them."

Trial begins for accused global arms dealer Viktor Bout
AFP/NEWSCORE, New York Post
October 11, 2011

Viktor Bout, the alleged Russian arms dealer described as "one of the most dangerous men" in the world, went on trial Tuesday in New York.

The former Soviet military officer is accused of attempting to sell a huge arsenal including hundreds of surface-to-air missiles to US agents in Thailand posing as members of Colombia's FARC leftist guerrilla organization.

Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin oversaw the start of jury selection from a pool of about 80 prospective jurors -- a crush of candidates so large that reporters were not initially allowed in to cover the process because of space restrictions, court officials said.

Bout's wife and daughter sat in the back of the wood-paneled courtroom as Scheindlin instructed jurors that those selected would hear a case involving references to powerful weapons, FARC, and foreign locales, including Russia, Africa and Colombia.

The mustachioed Russian has pleaded not guilty. Although his New York legal team concedes he did run a fleet of cargo planes, he has insisted he never sold or brokered so much as a single bullet.

He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Much thinner and more pale than at the time of his 2008 arrest in Thailand, Bout wore a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie. It was the first time he has been seen in his own clothes, rather than prison garb, since he was extradited to the United States in 2010.

He remained serious faced through most of the proceedings, occasionally turning to look at the jury pool and to nod and signal to his wife and daughter.

Defense lawyers and Scheindlin have expressed concern that Bout may be so notorious and his alleged crimes so colorful that it may be difficult to ensure an impartial jury.

The concern prompted the judge to take the highly unusual decision of making jurors sign a statement swearing they will abstain from researching Bout's case while serving.

That instruction is given in every trial to prevent jurors from adding their own knowledge of a case to what's presented in court, but it is nearly always made orally.

Although Bout was the most discreet of figures in the shady transport business he admits he commanded in Africa, his notoriety has grown since to near legendary levels.

A violence-filled movie, "Lord of War," starring Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage, was inspired by Bout's life, while the chief US Drug Enforcement Agency agent who organized the sting in Thailand told CBS television that the defendant is "one of the most dangerous men on the face of the earth."

A book about him was titled "Merchant of Death."

The charges against Bout in New York are hair-raising by themselves. According to the US government, Bout enthusiastically told the US agents he mistakenly believed to be FARC representatives that he could deliver 700 anti-aircraft missiles, 5,000 assault rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition, in addition to land mines and explosives.

The weapons were supposedly being sought to enable the FARC to down American military helicopters operating in Colombia.

Bout's more extended resume -- which is not directly at issue in the trial -- allegedly includes pouring weapons into wars in Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

"Those Russian aircraft were built like flying dump trucks. He could move this stuff and drop it with pinpoint accuracy to any desert, to any jungle, to any other remote place in the world. Right into the hands of what I refer to as the potpourri of global scum," DEA agent Michael Braun told CBS.

On Tuesday, the judge told prospective jurors they would hear evidence that could easily come from the pages of a spy thriller.

This would include testimony about "armor-piercing rocket launchers, AK-47 firearms ... and ultra-light airplanes that may be fitted with grenades," Scheindlin said.

"You will hear that many years ago Mr. Bout may have been involved in arms trafficking and/or arms transportation in Africa and that activity did not violate US laws."

Scheindlin also noted that prosecution witnesses would include a paid informant and a former comrade of Bout's who pleaded guilty and was cooperating with the US government.

One key prosecution witness is a former operative of the South African military during the apartheid regime who was caught on tape boasting that he'd "mowed down" blacks.

The trial is expected to run at least through late October.

Viktor Bout guilty of Colombian rebel arms deal
BBC News, November 2, 2011

A former Soviet military officer has been found guilty in a New York court of attempting to sell heavy weapons to a Colombian terror group.

Prosecutors said Viktor Bout, 44, who has been dubbed the merchant of death, stood to make millions from supplying weapons to the group.

The defence argued Bout had only wanted to sell two cargo planes.

He was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 after a sting operation in which US informants posed as Colombian rebels.

He remained in custody in Thailand for two years, before being extradited to the US to face trial, where prosecutors alleged that he had tried to sell weapons to Colombia's leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

After the verdict, Bout hugged one of his lawyers before he was led from court.

Conspiracy charges

Bout was convicted of conspiracy to kill US citizens and officials, deliver anti-aircraft missiles and provide aid to a terrorist organisation.

"Viktor Bout was ready to sell a weapons arsenal that would be the envy of some small countries," US Attorney Preet Bharara said.

During Bout's trial, which began on 12 October, prosecutors said the weapons had been intended to arm the group against what Bout had called a common enemy: US forces supporting the Colombian government.

In the opening statements of his trial the prosecution alleged that Bout had agreed to deliver 100 surface-to-air missiles, 20,000 high-powered rifles and 10m rounds of ammunition to rebels in Colombia in 2008.

They told the jury that Bout had been told the weapons would be used to target US pilots working with Colombian officials.

Prosecutors say Bout replied: "We have the same enemy."

But the defence argued Bout was just trying to sell two old cargo aircraft for $5m (£3.1m).

"Viktor was baiting them along with the promise of arms, hoping just to sell his planes," lawyer Albert Dayan told the court.

He will be sentenced on 8 February 2012 and could face a maximum term of life in prison.

The defence has already said that Bout will appeal against the verdict.

Gun-running

The conviction relates only to the alleged arms sale in Thailand, but US authorities say Bout has sold weapons to dictators and guerrilla forces in Africa, South America and the Middle East.

It is said that Bout began channelling weapons to war-torn parts of Africa during the 1990s.

The UN has named him an associate of former Liberian President Charles Taylor - who is now awaiting judgement for war crimes.

Media reports in the Middle East claim he was a gun-runner for the Taliban and al-Qaeda - allegations he has flatly denied.

Law enforcement agencies pursued him throughout the last decade.

The Hollywood movie Lord of War, starring Nicholas Cage, was loosely based on Bout's life.

Russia angry at Viktor Bout's US guilty verdict
BBC News, November 3, 2011

Moscow has reacted angrily to the guilty verdict handed down to Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, by a court in the United States.

Russia questioned its fairness and said it would try to bring Bout home.

On Wednesday, a New York court found Bout guilty of attempting to sell heavy weapons to a Colombian rebel group.

Prosecutors said Viktor Bout, 44, who has been dubbed "the merchant of death", stood to make millions from supplying weapons to the group.

The defence argued he had only wanted to sell two cargo planes.

The former Soviet military officer was arrested in Bangkok in 2008 after a sting operation in which US informants posed as Colombian rebels.

He remained in custody in Thailand for two years, before being extradited to the US to face trial, where prosecutors alleged that he had tried to sell weapons to Colombia's leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

'Harsh conditions'

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the United States of breaking international standards during Bout's arrest and interrogation.

It said the US special services had subjected him to "unjustifiably harsh detention conditions" and "controversial methods of a physical and psychological nature that contravene existing international rights standards".

"All these factors have called into question the very facts on which the prosecution was based, and accordingly, the fairness of the verdict itself," the foreign ministry statement said.

It added that it would "take all measures to protect" Viktor Bout's rights.

A ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich, said: "Our goal is to ensure his return home."

Bout will be sentenced on 8 February 2012 and could face a maximum term of life in prison.

The defence has already said that he will appeal against the verdict.

Bout was convicted of conspiracy to kill US citizens and officials, deliver anti-aircraft missiles and provide aid to a terrorist organisation.

"Viktor Bout was ready to sell a weapons arsenal that would be the envy of some small countries," US Attorney Preet Bharara said.

The conviction relates only to the alleged arms sale in Thailand, but US authorities say Bout has sold weapons to dictators and guerrilla forces in Africa, South America and the Middle East.

It is said that Bout began channelling weapons to war-torn parts of Africa during the 1990s.

The UN has named him an associate of former Liberian President Charles Taylor - who is now awaiting judgement for war crimes.

Media reports in the Middle East claim he was a gun-runner for the Taliban and al-Qaeda - allegations he has flatly denied.

Law enforcement agencies pursued him throughout the last decade.

The Hollywood movie Lord of War, starring Nicholas Cage, was loosely based on Bout's life.

How Victor Bout Fell for the DEA's FARC Trap
Written by Ronan Graham, InSight
Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Viktor Bout was convicted of conspiracy to sell weapons to Colombian rebel group the FARC after a DEA sting operation -- but why did the seasoned arms dealer believe his bogus guerrilla contacts?

One of the world's most notorious arms dealers, Viktor Bout, has been sentenced to 25 years to life by a New York court. Drawn in by an elaborate sting operation carried out by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bout had attempted to sell a vast arsenal of arms to men he thought represented the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Russian-born Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death,” agreed a deal with two men, who he was led to believe were top FARC commanders, to sell a huge shipment of arms including 100 surface-to-air missiles, 20,000 AK-47 machine guns and five tons of explosives.

Bout, who claims he is nothing more than a businessman operating an air freight company in conflict zones, was convicted by a jury of four charges, including conspiracy to kill U.S. government officers and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. In a statement released shortly after the conviction, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, said “justice has been done and a very dangerous man will be behind bars.” Viktor Bout, he said, had attempted to sell the FARC “a weapons arsenal that would be the envy of some small countries.”

Viktor Bout is a somewhat mythical figure whose meteoric rise from Soviet Air Force Officer to billionaire arms dealer is said to have provided the inspiration behind Hollywood movie “Lord of War.” He served as a Soviet military adviser in Africa in the 1980s and, upon the breakup of the Soviet Union, went on to establish an air freight empire. He used this operation to illegally transport weapons sourced from Soviet stockpiles to conflict zones around the world. According to Michael Braun, the former chief of operations for the DEA, he is “one of the most dangerous men on the face of the Earth."

In court, Viktor Bout’s former trusted associate and co-conspirator in the deal to sell arms to the FARC, the South African Andrew Smulian, admitted that the pair believed they were establishing a relationship with the Colombian rebel force. Investigators uncovered an email sent by Smulian to Bout in January 2008, in which Smulian suggested a relationship with the FARC had the potential to develop into “a nice ongoing program.” Smulian, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply arms to the Colombian group, claimed Bout displayed great enthusiasm about a possible deal with them, even suggesting he could arrange to provide instructors to teach FARC members about “bush fighting and military affairs.” Indeed, according to Smulian’s testimony, Bout went as far as to consider the possibility of arranging to seek out political support for the FARC.

Smulian and Bout did not realize that the men they were in contact with were not FARC members but undercover DEA agents, working on a highly elaborate sting operation codenamed "Operation Relentless." Speaking to CBS’s "60 Minutes" program, the man in charge of Operation Relentless, Louis Milione, described how events unfolded. The first step, Milione said, was to make contact with Andrew Smulian, and arrange a meeting on the island of Curacao, in the southern Caribbean Sea. There, DEA agents posing as FARC leaders and going by the names of "Eduardo" and "El Comandante,” told Smulian they were interested in purchasing significant quantities of arms. Eduardo and El Comandante were, in fact, agents Carlos Sagastume and Ricardo Jardenero. Both are former drug traffickers, who served in the Guatemalan and Colombian armies respectively. To Smulian, they made convincing FARC rebels, and he informed them that he would fly to Moscow to arrange the deal with a man known then only as Boris, but who the DEA were certain was Viktor Bout.

Eventually, the fake FARC members managed to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Bout in Bangkok, Thailand. There, they told Bout they required weapons for the explicit purpose of shooting down U.S. aircraft assisting the Colombian military in counter-narcotics operations. “We're fighting against the United States,” they told him, to which Bout responded “we are together in this … they are my enemy also.” A deal was agreed to supply weapons and money laundering services to the FARC, and, according to Milione, Bout referenced having “a shared ideology of communism.” After the deal had been agreed, evidence collected and Bout had firmly implicated himself in a plot to arm the Colombian rebels, Thai police stormed the meeting room, accompanied by DEA agents.

What the jury in Bout’s trial was not told was that Viktor Bout had a previous relationship with the FARC dating back to the late 1990s. Arms trafficking expert Kathi Lynn Austin claims that in 1999, five separate shipments of 10,000 Kalashnikov rifles were airdropped to the FARC over Colombia. She says that evidence she has gathered indicates that Viktor Bout’s freight operation was used to transport the rifles. The drop was allegedly facilitated by the former head of the Peruvian intelligence service, Vladimiro Montesinos.

Indeed, the fact that Bout has dealt with the FARC in the past may have contributed to the DEA’s decision to use the FARC as a cover during this operation. Douglas Farah, co-author of a book detailing Bout's arms dealing activities, says the DEA "believed the FARC was an entirely credible option for him.” His previous interactions with the FARC may have given him confidence to deal with them once again but, crucially, his previous arrangements with the rebels were allegedly made via Vladimiro Montesinos, meaning Bout had no direct contact with FARC commanders.

The DEA cover story was given more credibility by the fact that FARC were really attempting to acquire precisely the type of weaponry the DEA operatives were requesting. Documents seized by the Colombian military during a raid at a FARC camp in Ecuador prove that the group was seeking to acquire surface-to-air missiles at the time of Operation Relentless. Furthermore, according to news organization Mother Jones, Douglas Farah has said that even before the DEA sting began, there were suggestions that Bout had attempted to contact FARC leaders and had been “trying to sell armored all-terrain vehicles to the FARC.”

Nevertheless, it remains surprising that Bout, a man many regarded as untouchable, so readily believed that he was dealing with the FARC. After all, this is not the first occasion that the DEA has used the FARC as a cover story in an operation against a prominent arms dealer. In 2006, the very same DEA unit involved in the operation against Bout, posed as FARC representatives in an operation which led to the arrest of Syrian arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar, who is currently awaiting extradition to the U.S., accused of conspiring to supply weapons and explosives to the FARC. And in August 2009, another Syrian arms dealer, Jamal Yousef, was caught in a similar sting after allegedly trying to sell 18 surface-to-air missiles to DEA agents posing as FARC members.

US sentence for arms dealer Bout 'political' - Russia
BBC News, April 6, 2012

Moscow has condemned the US prison sentence for arms dealer Viktor Bout as "political" and says the case will be a priority in relations with Washington.

Bout was jailed for 25 years by a judge in New York for attempting to sell heavy arms to Colombian rebels intending to attack US pilots.

The ex-Soviet officer, who is suspected of dealing in arms since the 1990s, insists he is innocent of the charge.

Moscow may seek to have him transferred to Russia to serve his sentence.

Bout, a Russian citizen, was finally convicted last year after his arrest in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2008 following a sting operation in which US informants posed as Colombian rebels.

Sentencing was delayed twice as his lawyer sought more time to prepare and accused prosecutors of "outrageous government conduct" for allegedly entrapping the Russian.

Judge Shira Scheindlin said 25 years was an appropriate sentence for Bout's crimes given the sting set up by US officials. She also ordered him to forfeit $15m (£9.5m).

Bout's lawyer said an appeal would be made against the conviction.

'Clearly political'

Russia's foreign ministry described the imprisonment as "unfounded and biased", and "clearly political".

"Despite the shakiness of the evidence, the illegal nature of his arrest with US intelligence agents in Thailand and subsequent extradition, American justice carried out what was a clearly political order and ignored the arguments of lawyers and numerous appeals at various levels to protect Russian citizens," the ministry said.

It added that it would take "all necessary steps" to bring Bout home. In the first instance, the BBC's Daniel Sandford reports from Moscow, this is likely to mean asking American officials if he can serve his sentence in Russia.

Bout's trial heard that he had agreed to sell 100 advanced portable surface-to-air missiles and approximately 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) during a meeting at a Bangkok hotel.

Prosecutors say the informants told Bout the weapons would be used to attack US pilots assisting the Colombian government.

Bout is said to have responded: "We have the same enemy."

But in court on Thursday, Bout shouted that the allegations against him were "a lie".

He told the judge through a Russian interpreter he had "never intended to kill anyone".

"These people know this truth," he said, pointing at federal agents sitting in the court.

"They will live with this truth... God forgive you. You will answer to Him, not to me."

Bout's wife, Alla, later described the sentence as a victory for her husband because it was the minimum the judge had been allowed to impose.

"I think that if she had not been limited by the boundaries of the law that exist here, the case would have been dropped," she said.

'Most dangerous'

The conviction relates only to the attempted arms sale in Thailand but the US authorities say Bout sold weapons to dictators and guerrilla forces in Africa, South America and the Middle East.

It is said he began channelling weapons to war-torn parts of Africa during the 1990s.

"Although Bout has often described himself as nothing more than a businessman, he was a businessman of the most dangerous order," prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing memo.

The US treasury department banned any trade with Bout in 2004, citing an "unproven allegation" he had made $50m from selling arms to the Taliban.

During the trial, his defence argued Bout was just trying to sell two old cargo aircraft for $5m.

"Viktor was baiting them along with the promise of arms, hoping just to sell his planes," his defence lawyer, Albert Dayan, told the court.