US renews extradition bid for Russian arms dealer in Thailand

US PROSECUTORS have drafted new charges against Russian air freight operator and arms dealer Viktor Bout, 43, who has resisted extradition from Thailand because Thai authorities say has not committed an extraditable offence under Thai law.
It is now alleged that and Bout and his associates used "front companies" to purchase aircraft from US companies in 2007 in violation of United Nations sanctions. At the time, US officials blocked the sale.
US prosecutors allege that Bout and his former business associate, Richard Chichakli conspired to violate UN sanctions aimed a stopping the fighting in Africa, but whether this violates Thai law is undecided. The new charges relate to supplying arms to Liberian and the Congolese rebels.
A Thai judge had turned down an earlier US extradition request based on evidence that Bout was ready to supply weapons to the US agents in a Bangkok hotel in 2008 who were posing as agents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But FARC is regarded as a political organisation by Thailand and not as a terrorist group as it is so called by the United States.