One of the principal Russian arms dealers, Viktor Bout, dubbed the "Merchant of Death," was taken into custody in Bangkok, Thailand. He was attempting "to procure weapons for Columbia’s FARC rebels," Thai officials reported. The leftist, communist FARC is presently fighting Columbia’s government and funds itself through cocaine trade and kidnapping for ransom, apparently lucrative enough to fund trade for arms.

Bout, now 41, was a former Soviet air force officer and member of the KGB. International intelligence agencies including Interpol, have tracked his movements and dealings around the world for years. He speaks several languages, uses many aliases — Butt, Bont, Buttee, Boutov, Sergitov Vitali, etc., — and has at least five different passports.

He has been accused of trafficking in weapons covered through a series of front companies he set up including Bukavu Aviation Transport, Business Air Services and Great Lakes Business Company. He had assembled the largest fleet of cargo aircraft in the world, just since the breakup of the Soviet Union, with more than 50 planes. His purpose, beyond making millions, has been to foment and extend turmoil in several African countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Kenya, as well as in South America and in the Philippines. There is evidence that he supplies arms to both sides of a conflict.

There is also evidence that Bout shipped arms to the Taliban and al-Qaeda and possibly to Iraq. The U.S. government has information that Bout profited $50 million from supplying the Taliban with military equipment. Trade experts say illicit diamond trading was likely one source of funds for his smuggled arms shipments. Some media reports claim that Bout flew into Afghanistan just before September 11, 2001, but he denies it.

Perhaps most interesting is that one of Bout’s purported front companies, Air Bas, was contracted by the U.S. government to fly military missions in Iraq. Payments to Air Bas were run through a Kazakh company. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) requested the State Department look into situation as early as 2004. An Army spokeswoman then said they didn’t have any control over who contractors get to subcontract, so end of story.

A preponderance of evidence leads one to more than suspect that Bout does indeed play both ends against the middle, that he’s had some serious high-level protection in his dealings around the world, and help from various governments, most likely Russia. So, don’t look to see him extradited to face charges in the U.S.

 

For those interested in learning more about the arms dealer, a book written by journalists Douglas Farah and Stephen Bruan and entitled Merchant of Death – Money, Guns, Planes and the Man Who Makes War Possible, makes fascinating but frightening reading about Bout and his empire.