Georgian Aircraft Delivering North Korean Weapons to Iran (or Perhaps Elsewhere)
By Douglas Farah
The story of the Georgia-registered aircraft halted in Thailand with 35 tons of North Korean weapons bound for Iran (or perhaps Africa or Sri Lanka) show what a true globalized structure is.
The Thais stopped the aircraft because U.S. intelligence warned them of the North Korean weapons on board, listed in the cargo manifest as oil drilling equipment. North Korea, although under an international ban on exporting weapons, makes an estimated $1 billion a year from the industry, attracting the least savory of the world's characters as clients.
Why the plane landed in Thailand is not entirely clear, nor is the final destination of the weapons. Iran buys North Korean weapons, largely for the Quds Force, Hezbollah and Hamas. These are terrorist organizations. Pakistan likewise has shown a fondness for the illegal purchases in the past, and much of that has gone to terrorist organizations. West Africa could also have been on the route.
The weapons included sophisticated rocket propelled grenade launchers and what experts said were K-100 rockets, known as AWAC killers because of their lethal use against the Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft, used as a flying radar stations.
The five crewmen arrested will, of course, share space in the Thai prison with Viktor Bout, who has also busted in Thailand trying to sell some of the same types of sophisticate weapons to people he believed represented the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). An appeals court decision on Bout's extradition to the United States is expected in February. A lower court ruled he could not be extradited for his alleged crimes.
Another interesting aspect of the case is that the IL-76, although registered in the republic of Georgia, was registered to company, Air West, that has long been affiliated with Bout network in Sudan. If the companies in Georgia and Sudan are related it would be an interesting view of how the Bout empire has morphed since he was arrested in March 2008. My full blog is here.
