FORMER KGB AND ARMS DEALER MR VIKTOR BOUT ARRESTED: WHO ARE HIS ACCOMPLICES?

A notorious former Russian KGB officer and an international arms dealer Mr Viktor Bout who is widely known as “The Merchant of Death” has been arrested in Thailand. Mr Bout has been under the radar of international law enforcement for violating United Nations arms embargo on conflict affected nations such as Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Columbia and many other countries.

With a disregard for an international consensus on halting the supply of deadly weapons to the aforementioned conflict ravaged nations, Mr Bout played his cards well and succeeded in evading arrest throughout the last decade. He is well -known for delivering deadly weapons to rebels and insurgents across Africa and as far as Columbia in Latin America. Until today, the Russian Antonovs and Ilyusshin aircrafts remain to be traces of Mr Bouts illegal arms trade in West Africa and other countries such as Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

In the global quest of ending the conflict in Liberia and Sierra-Leone, Mr Viktor Bout’s name appeared in the United Nations travel ban list. His assets were also frozen in 2006 under a United States Presidential order.

According to the BBC and other news outlets, Mr Bout played a crucial role in supporting the efforts of Former Liberian President Charles Taylor garnering illicit diamonds from Sierra-Leone. Other reports also trace his activities as far as the tiny West African State;The Gambia, where a Russian Antonov aircraft was on display a few years ago during an independence anniversary celebrations. Mr Victor Bout will face charges in Thailand after which he will be extradited to the United States where the world’s most enduring Justice system will decide his faith.

In an era where a growing international consensus of tackling drugs and deadly weapons has taken shape, a closure on the  illegal arms and drug trade seem to not only  have taken shape, but hiding places for illegal actors also running out. The falling of Mr Bout into the nets of the US and other global intelligent agents is a manifestation that the global quest of tackling illegal arms and drug trade, has successfully taken the forefront of international peace and justice. What remains to be seen, is how investigations into his activities might unveil the illegal activities of some statesmen across the globe. It is only with time and the world will certainly come to learn who those dubious ill-conceived statemen and inhumane global actors are.