Victor Bout world's most famous arms dealer arrested in Thailand

Victor Bout, arguably the world's most famous arms dealer, was arrested in Thailand today, the New York Times reports. His arrest appears to be unexpected fallout resulting from escalating tensions in South America. Mr. Bout’s arrest in Thailand came after a Colombian military raid into Ecuador on Saturday, during which the Colombian Army killed 24 guerrillas and obtained a computer laptop belonging to a senior FARC rebel commander. It was not immediately clear whether the arrest and the seizure of information on the laptop were related.The arrest came on a tip from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency that Mr. Bout was traveling to Thailand, said Police Col. Petcharat Sengchai of the Crime Suppression Division, who led the arresting team.Colonel Petcharat said Mr. Bout, who is a Russian citizen, was wanted for “the procurement of weapons and explosives for Colombian rebels," referring to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a leftist insurgency that has been fighting Colombia’s government for decades and is known to fund itself partly through the cocaine trade.The police said Mr. Bout had been arrested at noon at the Silom Sofitel Hotel in Bangkok and was being held in the offices of the Crime Suppression Division. His assets and front companies were targeted by the Treasury in 2005 because of his connections to Charles G. Taylor, the former president of Liberia who faces charges of war crimes.A security analyst in Bangkok, who had spoken to the Thai authorities and who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Bout had been in Thailand since January and was regularly changing hotels. He was arrested during a meeting with someone from Russia or Eastern Europe, the analyst said, and American counter-terrorism officials were interrogating him. The analyst said the Thai government was anxious to get him out of the country, and the American authorities were anxious to get him as well.Like many Russian oligarchs, Bout was an unusual character who seemed to almost relish status as the archetype of the "Merchant of Death," as this 2003 profile of him in The New York Times Magazine makes clear. As the article about his arrest also makes clear, Bout seemed to flout his notoriety, but denied illegal activities:

A mythology grew up around him, but in 2002 he appeared abruptly on a Moscow radio station, Ekho Moskvy news radio, insisting on the air that he was innocent, and had never had contact with Taliban or Al Qaeda representatives. He said that 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.

According to Brian Johnson-Thomas, an arms trafficking researcher in Britain, Mr. Bout has been selling arms to the FARC for the last year to 18 months. He said the weapons were mostly AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, and possibly some surface-to-air missiles.The weapons came from Central Asia, mostly Kazakhstan, Mr. Johnson-Thomas said. He said Mr. Bout had over 40 planes, and that many of them were registered in Equitorial Guinea.
The arms reached the FARC via Paraguay, then through Argentina and Uruguay, said Mr. Johnson-Thomas, who returned recently from a research trip to South America. Mr. Bout’s planes “don’t return empty,” he said. They return to Africa loaded with drugs, which are then shipped into Europe. "It’s guns in, drugs out," he said.
Bout is a fascinating figure, but perhaps more so because he demonstrates how little we actually understand about much of Russia's illicit arms trade. For those interested in more details, there's also a book that covers Victor Bout called, not surprisingly, Merchant of Death.