Arms dealer suspect flown to US

Thailand has extradited a suspected Russian arms dealer to the United States to face terrorism charges, ending two years of legal…

Thailand has extradited a suspected Russian arms dealer to the United States to face terrorism charges, ending two years of legal wrangling.

Viktor Bout left Bangkok's Don Muang airport on a 14-seat US jet at 1.27pm local time, a police spokesman said.

Earlier, Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had said Bout could be extradited to the United States to face charges later today, a few days before his detention is due to expire.

The former Soviet air force officer (43), dubbed the "Merchant of Death", faces US accusations of trafficking arms since the 1990s to dictators and conflict zones in Africa, South America and the Middle East.

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He has been fighting extradition since his March 2008 arrest in Bangkok as part of a US-led sting operation and legal wrangling over his fate led to a two-year diplomatic tug of war between Washington and Moscow.

A Reuters photographer said dozens of policemen and masked commandos guarded the entrance of Bangkok's maximum-security Bangkwang prison where Bout has been detained.

A Thai court had earlier cleared the way for Bout's extradition, but the executive branch could have blocked it if it was deemed to be detrimental to foreign relations or harmful to individuals involved.

"The cabinet acknowledges the appeal court's judgement that the case was not a political one so we did not oppose his extradition," deputy prime minister Trirong Suwannakhiri told Reuters.

Russia's Foreign Ministry has said Bout is an innocent businessman facing a politically motivated extradition that could undermine strengthening US-Russian ties and undo the White House's efforts to "reset" relations between the Cold War foes.

Bout, an inspiration for the Hollywood movie Lord of War  starring Nicholas Cage, has been held in prison since his arrest in a joint US-Thai sting operation in which agents posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Reuters