Thailand to extradite arms ‘merchant of death’

An appeal court in Thailand ruled yesterday to extradite suspected Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout to the United States, effectively ending a nearly 25-year chase for the man dubbed The Merchant of Death.

The decision overturns a lower court’s rejection of the US extradition request.

The court said Mr Bout must be extradited within three months or would be free to return to Russia.

Mr Bout, a 43-year-old former Soviet air force officer, is reputed to be one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers, allegedly supplying weapons that fuelled civil wars in South America, the Middle East and Africa.

His clients were said to include Liberia’s Charles Taylor, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and both sides of the civil war in Angola.

Shackled in leg irons, Mr Bout cried after the verdict was read at the court in Bangkok and hugged his wife and daughter.

“This is the most unfair decision possible,” his wife told reporters, speaking in Russian through a translator. “It is known the world over that this is a political case.”

Mr Bout says he is the victim of an American “frame-up”. During the hearing he claimed he ran a legitimate air cargo business and was in Bangkok to discuss selling aircraft to Thai businessmen.

Mr Bout’s lawyer Lak Nittiwattanawichan also called the extradition politically motivated and said he would try to keep fighting the extradition.

“I am going to submit a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cabinet. I will also submit a request to the king and queen,” he said.

Mr Bout was arrested in March 2008 at a Bangkok luxury hotel as part of an elaborate sting in which US agents posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organisation.

After his arrest, Mr Bout was indicted in the US on charges of conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth 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 case became the centre of a diplomatic tug-of-war between Moscow and Washington, both of which want Mr Bout turned over and were closely following yesterday’s verdict.

Russia made great efforts to get Mr Bout out of Thailand. Experts say Mr Bout has been useful for Russia’s intelligence apparatus and Russia does not want him going on trial in the US.