Thailand agrees to extradite alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout
Thailand agreed Tuesday to extradite suspected Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout to the United States, where he faces terrorism charges.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters that the Cabinet sided with an earlier Appeals Court decision that Bout, alleged to be one of the world’s major arms dealers, could be extradited.
Abhisit said Bout would be sent as soon as the U.S. was ready to receive him, even suggesting that the suspect might already be on his way.
Bout, a 43-year-old former Soviet air force officer who is reputed to have been one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers, was arrested in March 2008 in Bangkok as part of a sting operation led by U.S. agents.
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 Kadafi and both sides in Angola’s civil war.
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