http://www.afp.com/…
07/03/2008 17h18
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.

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.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Bout demanded his client be returned to Russia, as Bout’s brother condemned his arrest, saying his business was much like taxi driving.

“We will insist that Viktor Bout is returned to our country. We will use legal means. We will ask our officials, our president, our government to protect this citizen,” the lawyer, Viktor Burobin, told Echo of Moscow radio in an interview at which Bout’s older brother, Sergei Bout, also spoke.

Sergei Bout, who has a large scar on his cheek and wore a black shirt during the interview, said the accusations against his brother were “mythical” and accused Washington of deception.

“He’s a normal businessman… Can a taxi driver be described as an accessory just because a passenger in his car has a gun in his briefcase?” said Sergei Bout, adding: “He just transports goods.”

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.