Viktor Bout Extradited

Viktor Bout, Extradited To U.S.: Read DEA Press Release here

After more than two years of legal proceedings, alleged international arms dealer Viktor Bout was extradited to the United States from Thailand on November 16 to stand trial on terrorism charges. Bout arrived in New York on a DEA charter plane and was brought to a high-security prison in Manhattan, where he will be held pending trial.

Bout has been accused of using a fleet of cargo airplanes to transport weapons and military equipment to various parts of the world. Specifically, between November 2007 and March 2008 Bout agreed to sell to the Colombian narco-terrorist organization Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), which is also the world’s largest supplier of cocaine, millions of dollars worth of weapons. Bout negotiated the sale to two confidential sources that were acquiring these weapons for the FARC, with the specific understanding that the weapons were to be used to attack U.S. helicopters in Colombia. These two confidential informants were in fact working with the DEA, and Bout was subsequently arrested.