He was known as the ‘Merchant of Death,’ a man who fueled conflicts across the globe. But how did the world finally catch Viktor Bout, Russia’s most notorious arms dealer? Journalist Cathy Scott-Clark’s work delves into the shadowy world of international arms trafficking, revealing a decade-long intelligence operation that required cunning, patience, and a high-stakes sting operation to bring one of the world’s most wanted men to justice.
✈️ The Post-Soviet Arms Bazaar
Viktor Bout’s rise was a direct result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. As the massive Soviet military machine crumbled, it left behind a vast arsenal of aircraft, weapons, and ammunition with little oversight. Bout, a former Soviet air force officer with a talent for logistics and languages, exploited this chaos. He built a global air-cargo empire, using his fleet of aging Soviet-era planes to deliver everything from flowers to frozen food, and, more secretly, a deadly cargo of AK-47s, rocket launchers, and anti-aircraft missiles to war zones in Africa, South America, and the Middle East.
🎯 The Sting of a Lifetime
For years, Bout operated with impunity, skillfully navigating legal loopholes and using a web of shell companies. The breakthrough came when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) orchestrated an elaborate sting. Posing as representatives of the FARC, a Colombian guerrilla group, DEA agents lured Bout to a luxury hotel in Thailand in 2008 to negotiate a massive arms deal. He was recorded agreeing to supply weapons to kill American pilots. This evidence was the key. He was arrested by Thai police, and after a lengthy extradition battle, he was brought to the U.S., where he was tried and convicted, ending the reign of the world’s most infamous arms trafficker.
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Scott-Clark, Cathy, and Adrian Levy. *The Exile: The Stunning Inside Story of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Flight*. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.
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