Thailand Extradites Russian Arms Suspect to U.S.

[CrazyExpat]

BANGKOK — Thailand extradited Viktor Bout, a Russian accused of arms trafficking, to the United States on Tuesday, abandoning the diplomatic balancing act it had conducted for more than two years between Washington and Moscow.

Two motorcades — one apparently a decoy — made the trip to Don Muang Airport, where about 50 police officers, including snipers, kept watch, according to local news media. Shortly afterward, an airport official confirmed that Mr. Bout had left on a chartered 20-seat American aircraft. Also aboard were two pilots and six officials from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.

Information about his movements was being closely held for security reasons, but he was expected to arrive in New York on Tuesday evening and be arraigned in United States District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday.

Mr. Bout, 43, is a former Soviet Air Force officer who became known as the “Merchant of Death” for what American officials say is an arms trafficking network that encompassed Africa, Afghanistan and South America. He is also reputed to know the current shape of Russian intelligence, and Washington has been in a tug of war with Moscow since his arrest in March 2008 over whether he would go on trial in the United States.

Mr. Bout was arrested at a Bangkok hotel after he agreed, according to the authorities, to sell millions of dollars in weapons to undercover American agents posing as rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. The group has been fighting Colombia’s government for decades and finances itself partly through the cocaine trade.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said Mr. Bout is an innocent businessman, as he himself claims.

On Tuesday, the ministry released a statement angrily calling the extradition illegal. “From a legal perspective, what has occurred cannot have a rational explanation and justification,” the statement said. “There is no doubt that the illegal extradition of Viktor Bout came about as a consequence of unprecedented political pressure exerted by the U.S. on the government and judicial authorities of Thailand. It is deeply regrettable that the Thai authorities succumbed to political pressure from outside and undertook the illegal extradition.”

Thailand had long tried not to offend either Russia or the United States over Mr. Bout’s case. In October, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva urged the two to resolve the issue on their own.

“We have certainly indicated that they should talk, rather than putting all the burden on us,” he said. “It would make it easy for us if they could come up with a common position because, after all, these kinds of decisions must be made with a view to maintaining good relations, which is in the interests of the Thai people and also our friends.”

But on Tuesday, it appeared that Thailand had whisked Mr. Bout to the airport without informing the Russians.

“This information did not arrive at the embassy officially,” the chief of the Russian Embassy’s consular service, Andrei Dvornikov, told the Interfax news agency. “There were neither notes nor telephone calls.”

Mr. Bout’s Thai lawyer said that the Thai authorities had not informed him, Mr. Bout’s wife, Alla, or the Russian Embassy in Bangkok about the move.

“Alla Bout and I were so confused and shocked since they didn’t inform us about the extradition,” said the lawyer, Lak Nittiwattanawichan. “We just learned about this late in the morning. Yesterday, we went to visit him at the prison and everything was normal.”

He said that he would sue because the “Thai authorities have violated the law.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/world/asia/17thai.html?_r=1

[CrazyExpat]

BANGKOK -- The Thai government extradited accused Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout to the United States onTuesday to face terrorism charges, rejecting heavy pressure from Moscow for him to be freed.

The Cabinet approved Bout's extradition Tuesday after a long legal battle, and Police Col. Supisarn Bhakdinarinath said the 43-year-old Russian was put aboard a plane in Bangkok at about 1:30 p.m. (0630 GMT; 1:30 a.m. EST).

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters after the Cabinet meeting that the government sided with an earlier appeals court decision that Bout could be extradited.

Bout, a former Soviet air force officer who is reputed to have been one of the world's most prolific arms dealers, was arrested at a Bangkok luxury hotel in March 2008 as part of a sting operation led by U.S. agents.

The head of a lucrative air transport empire, Bout had long evaded U.N. and U.S. sanctions aimed at blocking his financial activities and restricting his travel. He claims he ran a legitimate business and never sold weapons.

Bout has allegedly supplied weapons that fueled civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa, with clients including Liberia's Charles Taylor and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and both sides in Angola's civil war.

Russia had made strong public statements against Bout's extradition, and privately, both Moscow and Washington were reported to be exerting heavy pressure on Abhisit's government. U.S lawmakers also became involved, sending a letter to the Thai government urging extradition.

A Thai court in August of 2009 originally rejected Washington's request for Bout's extradition on terrorism-related charges. After that ruling was reversed by an appeals court in August this year, the U.S. moved to get him out quickly, sending a special plane to stand by.

However, just ahead of the appeals court ruling, the United States forwarded new money-laundering and wire fraud charges to Thailand in an attempt to keep Bout detained if the court ordered his release. But the move backfired by requiring a hearing on the new charges. Those were dismissed in early October.

Russia says Bout is an innocent businessman and wants him in Moscow. Experts say Bout has knowledge of Russia's military and intelligence operations and that Moscow does not want him going on trial in the United States.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111600072.html