Viktor Bout said his arrest and trial had been arranged by the United States because he refused to become an American spy

Suspected Russian arms dealer detained in Thailand said his arrest and trial had been arranged by the United States because he refused to become an American spy. Viktor Bout, 41, was arrested in March in Bangkok during a joint police operation led by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The second hearing in his case in a Thai court started on Friday. In an interview published Friday in Kommersant, a Russian business daily, Bout said Washington fabricated charges against him after he had refused to work as an informant. "I was approached by some recruiters, especially in South Africa, who said it would be good if I shared with them information about the situation in one country or another and offered me a lot of perks. But I was not interested and I refused," Kommersant quoted him as saying. "They attempted to recruit me because we worked with Libyans and ... some other countries that the Americans had an interest in. And after I refused, the UN started a sham investigation," he added.
Western law enforcement agencies consider Bout to be "the most prominent foreign businessman" involved in trafficking arms to UN-embargoed destinations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. UN reports say Bout set up a network of more than 50 cargo aircraft around the world to facilitate his arms shipments, earning the nickname "merchant of death." Bout admitted that his company transported weaponry around the world as part of its business operations, but said the shipments were legal. "Everyone is attempting to picture me as an 'arms baron' or a 'merchant of death' ... but all shipment companies deliver weaponry, which is considered a legal cargo if declared properly," he said. DEA prosecutors accuse Bout of conspiring with others to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a leftist group listed by the United States as a terrorist organization. Thailand received in early May a formal request from Washington to extradite Bout to the United States, where he has been indicted on four charges: conspiracy to kill Americans and U.S. officers or employees, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, and conspiring to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile. The former officer in the Russian army faces a life sentence if tried in a U.S. court, while Thai authorities earlier announced that they would not press charges against Bout. Bout's Russian lawyer, Yan Dasgupta, said Thursday that the United States had no chance of securing extradition of his client under Thai law. "As a lawyer I can say with certainty that if the case is reviewed [by Thai court] in line with the law, there is no chance for his extradition whatsoever," Dasgupta said.

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Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, which could send the man dubbed the "Merchant of Death" to the United States to face terrorism charges.

Thailand's criminal court must decide whether there is enough evidence to extradite Viktor Bout to the United States, where he could face life in prison for allegedly funnelling arms to some of the world's bloodiest conflict zones.
Thai court on Monday opened extradition hearings for alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, which could send the man dubbed the "Merchant of Death" to the United States to face terrorism charges.Bout did not speak to reporters as he entered the courtroom in shackles, an orange prison-issue outfit and running shoes.The stocky former Soviet air force officer was arrested in Bangkok in March after a sting operation headed by US agents, and Monday's proceedings opened with Bout's lawyers filing an appeal against his detention."I have submitted the petition that Viktor Bout has been detained illegally," his Thai lawyer Preecha Prasertsak told reporters, but did not say on what grounds they were contesting the detention.
The judge told the court that a separate date would be set to discuss the petition, and opened the extradition hearings.Lawyers questioned the first witness for the prosecution, a Thai foreign ministry official, on technical details of the arrest and extradition case. A US embassy official and Thai police officer were also due to testify Monday.The fourth and final prosecution witness and witnesses for the defence will be called to the stand on October 10.During the sting operation, Bout allegedly agreed to supply surface-to-air missiles to US anti-drug agents posing as rebels from Colombia's Marxist FARC group, which Washington considers a terrorist organisation.He has been charged with conspiracy to kill US officers or employees and conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.Bout has been held at a maximum-security prison outside Bangkok since his arrest on March 6, and has complained that he has been jailed unlawfully on "fabricated American accusations".
A US indictment accuses Bout of using a fleet of cargo planes to transport weapons and military equipment to Africa, South America and the Middle East.He is accused of being a global gun-runner since the 1990s, and is believed to have supplied arms to the Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network and former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.His apparent downfall came after the 12-month undercover sting in which US Drug Enforcement Administration agents infiltrated Bout's inner circle posing as FARC rebels seeking an arsenal of weapons.

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Drug trade run by foreign businessmen in Phuket, Koh Samui and Pattaya.

anti-drug agency and police are gearing up to dismantle foreign-organised crime syndicates which have been controlling the trade in illicit drugs at some of Thailand's famous tourist destinations for years. Krissana Pol-anand, the secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), said ONCB officials and drug suppression police were very concerned about the drug trade run by foreign businessmen in Phuket, Koh Samui and Pattaya.''The drug trade run by foreign businessmen has been increasing in these areas. We're collecting evidence in order to bring these people to justice as soon as possible,'' said Pol Lt-Gen Krissana.
The ONCB yesterday held a press conference to announce its new drugs suppression policy.Pol Lt-Gen Krissana had been transferred to an inactive post at Government House by the coup-appointed government of former prime minister Gen Surayud Chulanont. He was re-appointed as chief of the ONCB by the Samak administration a few months ago.He said the ONCB and the police were combining forces to keep a close watch on foreign drug traders. He claimed the authorities already had a list of people involved in the illicit business.He said foreign drug dealers, especially Africans, had run their businesses in the country's tourist destinations for years. Some opened a business office in town as a front to conceal their illegal activities from authorities, while others travelled back and forth between their countries and Thailand.Pol Lt-Gen Krissana also expressed concern over the growing number of Thai women being deceived into marrying foreigners and being used by foreign drug dealers as couriers.Many had been used as drug couriers, he said. Over the past two years, 82 Thai women had been arrested in China and Australia after carrying heroin from India and Pakistan via Thailand.''I don't want Thai women to think that marrying foreigners will make their lives better because sometimes they are lured into the drug trade,'' he said.He said the Interior Ministry had been asked to help in a campaign to educate women in rural areas about these foreign drug dealers' ploys.
He said he had instructed officials to step up suppression of the drugs trade in 22 border districts in nine provinces over the past two months. Officers had found information that large amounts of methamphetamines would flood into the country during this period.

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Unamed British citizen is among more than 30 people being held after Thai police broke up a drug ring that was supplying tourists with cocaine and Ecs

Unnamed British citizen is among more than 30 people being held after Thai police broke up a drug ring that was supplying tourists with cocaine and Ecstasy.
Police Colonel Ithipol Kitsuwansay said the ring bought 10 kilos of cocaine worth £500,000 from Latin America each month and shipped it to the island of Samui.
Scores of foreigners are on death row in Thailand for drug-related convictions.

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Shahriar Zarghamzade, alias Ramin Ahmani.Police seized about 100 million baht (US$3 million) in assets owned by the Iranian, including a yacht

Thai police detained more than 30 people and broke up a drug ring that was supplying tourists with cocaine and Ecstasy on the island of Samui, an official said Saturday.
Working with American drug enforcement agents, Thai police made the arrests Friday, said Police Col. Ithipol Kitsuwansay. Among those detained were an Iranian suspected of leading the ring, two Turks, several Africans and a British citizen, he said.
Police also seized about 100 million baht (US$3 million) in assets owned by the Iranian, including a yacht, several gift shops and a pub on the island in the Gulf of Thailand, he said. He was identified as 38-year-old Shahriar Zarghamzade, alias Ramin Ahmani.Ithipol said the ring was buying as much as 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of cocaine with a street value of 35 million baht (US$1 million) from Latin America each month and shipping it through Bangkok to Samui. It was then sold at parties frequented by tourists, he said.Scores of foreigners are on death row in Thailand for drug-related convictions.

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John Paul Jones it took doctors two hours to remove the drugs, which were concealed in condoms and probably smuggled into Thailand

John Paul Jones was arrested in Thailand after a doctor allegedly discovered 65 plastic bags filled with $31,608 in hashish in his stomach, police said.
John Paul Jones, 51, was visiting the island of Ko Samui when he was rushed to the hospital after complaining of severe stomach pain, the Bangkok Post reported.
An X-ray of Jones's intestine showed a sausage-like string of objects that were surgically removed and identified as 800 grams of hashish.
"Before the operation, Mr Jones looked nervous and asked whether police would be notified. We found 62 black objects obstructing his small intestine. Three packs had burst," Dr Worapob said.
It is reported that it took doctors two hours to remove the drugs, which were concealed in condoms and probably smuggled into Thailand from India or Pakistan.
Authorities said Jones would be held for questioning and charges.

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121 people had been crammed inside an airtight seafood container

The police said 121 people had been crammed inside an airtight seafood container late Wednesday night that measured just 20 feet long and 7 feet wide. Survivors said they had shouted and banged on the sides of the sweltering container as they began to collapse from lack of air. Fifty four migrant workers from Myanmar suffocated in the back of a sealed truck in southern Thailand as they were being smuggled into the country to work as illegal laborers, the Thai police said Thursday. Col. Kraithong Chanthongbai, the local police commander in Ranong Province, on Myanmar’s border, said that the dead included 37 women and 17 men and that they were heading for the resort island of Phuket to work as day laborers. Twenty-one of the survivors were hospitalized and the others were held for questioning, he said. All but two were later discharged from the hospital. The deaths illustrated the dangers migrant workers face as they are smuggled by the millions across borders into countries as far apart in the world as the United States, Britain and Thailand.
In a similar incident in 2003 in Texas, 19 Latin American migrants died from overheating and suffocation inside a trailer truck. In 2001 in Britain, 58 illegal Chinese migrants died when they were crammed into a sweltering tomato truck.
Last December, the bodies of 22 migrants from Myanmar were found floating in the ocean near the west coast of Thailand. Earlier last year, 11 workers from Myanmar died when a pickup truck crammed with 40 passengers crashed near the northern Thai border. In the latest case, the police said they were searching for the truck driver as well as for members of the smuggling ring they believed arranged the trip. They said they had detained the owner of the truck, who said he was unaware that it was being used to transport migrants.
One of the survivors, Saw Win, 30, told The Associated Press: “I thought everyone was going to die. I thought I was going to die. If the truck had driven for 30 minutes more, I would have died for sure.” He said that about 30 minutes into the trip, the workers began to bang on the side of the container, screaming to the driver for help. The driver briefly turned on the air conditioning but it went off again. The workers continued pounding and shouting for another hour until the driver stopped the truck, unlocked the container and ran off, Win said. Officials estimate that about one million workers from Myanmar are in Thailand illegally, usually in low-paying jobs as laborers or domestic workers or on fishing boats.
As in other countries, they face abuse and exploitation with few legal protections.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said in a report in 2005 that workers from Myanmar “are routinely paid well below the Thai minimum wage, work long hours in unhealthy conditions and are at risk of arbitrary arrest and deportation.” They are typically brought into the country by large smuggling syndicates in difficult and often dangerous conditions. Survivors told the police on Thursday that they had each paid 10,000 baht ($314) to be smuggled into Thailand.
They said they had come by fishing boat from Myanmar’s Victoria Point to Ranong Province, about 286 miles south of Bangkok, before being loaded into the truck.
Colonel Kraithong said it was not unusual for his station near the border of Myanmar to catch illegal migrants, but he said they usually came in groups of five or six, hidden in secret compartments under piles of vegetables or boxes or loads of wood.

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Edwin Richard Crawley Nutri Med. Co. Ltd arrested selling steroids illegally in Soi Chaiyapreuk

100 Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.) officers, equipped with arrest warrants, in co-operation with Thai police, today arrested a British gang selling steroids illegally in Soi Chaiyapreuk, Pattaya and seized assets worth over Bt 20 million
At 8.00 am, 21 March, 2008, Police Major General, Amaresrit Wattanawiboon, Commander of Office of the Narcotics Control Board,(ONCB) who had been co-ordinating with Mr.Andre Kellum, an officer of the D.E.A, acknowledged that there was a gang of foreigners who were running a network selling steroid in Pattaya.
The police and D.E.A. officers, acting on arrest warrant no. 98/255, searched a two-storey house in Pattaya New City Village, Soi Chaiyapreuk , Jomtien Beach Road. The police later arrested Mr.Edwin Richard Crawley (44) a British national who lives in the house, which he had used as the centre of operations for his business. According to the police report, Mr. Edwin Richard Crawley originally opened a company called" Nutri Med. Co. Ltd." registered as an import-export company. However, police did not find any illegal items or incriminating evidence, only documents relating to the import and export of goods.
Another police team also searched a single house opposite and found Mr. Graisorn Tongrak (31) the son- in-law of Mr.Edwin Richard Crawley, who was looking after the house for his father- in-law. Once again, police did not find any illegal items.
After that, the police took both suspects to search another building in the same soi, registered as a company called" Vincent Centre Service Co. Ltd. operating a postal and utility bill payment service. Here, however, police found several empty bags of drugs, called "British Dragon" and 2,500 copies of steroid instruction sheets. The D.E.A. officers took the steroids away for evidence. They also searched a warehouse behind the Nutri Med. company office, where they found and confiscated two machines used to pack steroids and also seized two land deed papers relating to the two houses, a Toyota car, a BMW R1200 RT motorbike, and 13 bank books which contained millions of baht; in total property worth about Bt 20 million. A third group of police later arrested Mr.Ashley Vincent Livingston (45) British, and Mrs. Jirawan Livingston(38) , his wife, living at a house in Moo. 10, Soi Kow Noi, Pattaya Hill 1. According to the information police had received, they all belonged to the same gang, whose big boss was Edwin Richard Crawley. At this house, the police did not find any evidence, but seized a land deed paper, a Honda and a Toyota car, jewellery, Bt 100,000 in cash, and six bank books, which had many tens of millions of baht in the accounts. Police Major General, Amaresrit Wattanawiboon, revealed that Thai police were originally notified by the D.E.A. that they had intercepted steroids, which had been delivered to America in plain envelopes and on investigation, discovered that the biggest operation was in Pattaya . Mr. Edwin (the big boss) had been importing steroids from China through the Internet and then forwarding them to USA and Europe. On receipt, customers would send money to his account in Thailand. Some of the goods were sent to Pattaya and repacked in dolls or fruit, to be sent to Europe by parcel or in plain envelopes. Mr. Ashley had been worked with Mr. Edwin as his assistant, finding customers for him. This operation had been running since 1999. It made him a millionaire, being able to afford to buy property in Pattaya worth Bt 20 million. Mr. Edwin was also a volunteer, helping charities in Pattaya, so he was well known among the high-society set. He is also the coach of a disabled weight lifting team, which has won many trophies.Despite Mr. Edwin's other good works, police arrested him and the other gang members, committing them for trial on charges of having imported, possessed and exported illegal drugs as well as not having paid tax. After a Thai trial, they will all be sent to America for further processing.

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