The New Nation - Internet Edition

BBC News

The United States is seeking the extradition of a suspected top international arms smuggler Viktor Bout from Thailand, where he has been arrested.

Viktor Bout, a 41-year-old Russian, was detained in a luxury hotel in Bangkok after a months-long sting operation.

He had allegedly been trying to secure a major weapons deal with US agents posing as Colombian Farc rebels.

Bout has gained a reputation of mythic proportions for his alleged role in the illegal global arms trade.

He was dubbed the "merchant of death" for allegedly supplying warring parties in Angola and Sierra Leone, and is believed to have inspired Nicolas Cage's character in the 2005 film Lord of War.

The US placed sanctions on Bout in 2006, seizing his fleet of cargo planes and freezing many of his assets, but thus far he has never faced prosecution.

Thai authorities earlier said they would seek to prosecute Bout before he was extradited elsewhere.

US justice department spokesman Dean Boyd told the BBC that Washington would now proceed with an extradition request on charges that Bout was attempting to supply weapons to a group designated as terrorist by the US.

An associate of Bout who faces related charges, Andrew Smulian, is reportedly still being sought.