Russian Arms Dealer Extradited to US (Video)

[ Russian Arms Dealer Viktor Bout Extradited to the U.S. ]

The man suspected of being one of the world’s biggest arms dealers was extradited from Thailand to the United States on Tuesday.

Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” was flown to New York after spending two years in a high-security prison in Bangkok. For years U.S. officials had pursued Bout’s extradition from Thailand.

In the United States, the former Russian air force officer has been charged on two counts including conspiring to sell a cache of arms to the FARC terrorist organization in Colombia, to be used against Americans in Colombia.

“Bout had the capacity to transport large-scale military machinery, as well as extensive stores of weapons to virtually any location in the world,” reads his indictment.

Bout’s massive weapons-trafficking business has fueled conflicts and supported regimes in Afghanistan, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone, according to the indictment.

Russian authorities, claiming Bout is a normal businessman, have strongly objected to his extradition to the United States.