Russian arms suspect extradited to U.S.
Thailand extradited suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to the United States to face terrorism charges, bringing a two-year wrangle between the two old Cold War foes to a close.
The 43-year-old former Soviet air force officer, dubbed the "Merchant of Death," was flown out of Bangkok on a small, chartered U.S. aircraft shortly after Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his cabinet cleared the extradition.
Bout had been fighting extradition since his March 2008 arrest in Bangkok in a U.S.-led sting operation.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said earlier that Bout faced a politically motivated extradition that could even undermine the strengthening of U.S. and Russian ties and undo the White House's efforts to "reset" relations.
In a surprise move, the Thai cabinet officially acknowledged the U.S. extradition request, clearing the last hurdle for Bout's departure to face trial in a U.S. court.
Bout faces U.S. accusations of trafficking arms since the 1990s to dictators and conflict zones in Africa, South America and the Middle East.
Dozens of policemen and masked commandos guarded the entrance of Bangkok's maximum-security Bangkwang prison where Bout had been detained.
He was taken from prison in a speeding van with darkened windows, escorted by several security vehicles.
"The cabinet acknowledges the appeal court's judgment that the case was not a political one so we did not oppose his extradition," Deputy Prime Minister Trirong Suwannakhiri told Reuters.
Bout, an inspiration for the Hollywood movie, "Lord of War," starring Nicholas Cage, had been held in prison since his arrest at a luxury Bangkok hotel in a joint U.S.-Thai sting operation in which agents posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
