North Korean arms plane linked to East European arms traffickers

The weapons laden plane seized in Bangkok en route from North Korea at the weekend has been linked to two renowned East European arms traffickers by a respected Swedish think-tank in the latest twist in the mysterious saga.

The Ilyushin-76 aircraft, which was found to be carrying 35 tons of weapons including rockets and grenades, was most recently registered under a company called Beibars, linked to Serbian arms dealer Tomislav Dmanjanovic. It had previously been registered with three companies identified by the US Department of the Treasury as firms controlled by the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Hugh Griffiths, who monitors air cargo companies involved in arms trafficking for SIPRI, said other past owners of the aircraft had also been documented by the UN as trafficking arms to Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Chad

"The mystery surrounding this aircraft is solved," said Mr Griffiths, whose institute is a world leader in tracking the arms trade and analysing military spending. "Now investigators know who to question to find out the ultimate destination of the weapons."

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2009/12/georgian_aircraft_delivering_n.php

“Georgian Aircraft Delivering North Korean Weapons to Iran (or Perhaps Elsewhere)”
By Douglas Farah
(December 14, 2009)

SNIPPET: “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.”

http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
#

Re Sudan ON THE INTERNET:

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/sudan/index?tab=articles

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2370225/posts

Yemeni Officials Facilitating Iranian Missile Shipments?
THE JAWA REPORT - blog ^ | October 23, 2009 10:50 AM | Posted by Jane
Posted on October 24, 2009 4:38:39 PM PDT by Cindy

SNIPPET - QUOTE:

Possibly the mystery of the three recent incidents of exploding Yemeni fishing boats can be explained as Iranian missile shipments. The following article asserts Iran is shipping from an African country, likely Sudan, to Yemen. A Yemeni fishing boat also exploded in a Sudanese port and Yemen’s Midi Island is a new transit point for Sudanese refugees. Once there’s a smuggling route established for weapons, the boats often also transport refugees.

However this report is taken from a Yemeni government stooge newspaper, Akhbar al Youm, which once announced that Ayatollah Sistani and I (me Jane) wrote the 2005 Amnesty International report, so there you go... It could be spin but the part that seems truest is that Yemeni government officials facilitated the shipment’s entry to Yemen. Its equally likely the Iranian missiles, if they were off loaded in Yemen, were destined for al Qaeda as the Houthi rebels. The paper is owned by President Saleh’s half brother General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar who is in a perpetual power struggle with other elements of the family. General al Ahmar is tasked with leading the war against the Houthi rebels, and as odd as it seems, a shipload of Chinese weapons was recently imported (with forged documents from the Yemeni defense ministry), thought destined for the Houthi rebels. Its a very fractured government.

Adding some weight to the story is the January 09 incident of Israel bombing an Iranian weapons shipment headed for Gaza from The Sudan, with Yemen noted as a leg of the route. So if Iran is drop shipping weapons to Sudan, from there they could go either direction. Two Iranian warships did dock in Yemen during the time frame referenced (prior to August 09), approved by Yemen’s president. A third fleet docked in September 2009.

(Excerpt) Read more at mypetjawa.mu.nu ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2408505/posts

Japanese TV SCOOP (NNN-Network) On N. Korean Cargo Filled With Weaponry Stopped in Thailand”
NNN (Nihon Television) Network, Japan (Evening News) ^ | 16 December 2009 | AmericanInTokyo
Posted on December 15, 2009 9:54:27 PM PST by AmericanInTokyo

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2408505/posts?page=1#1

1. The Japanese TV crew got in close during interrogation of the foreign crew of this aircraft. The Japanese zeroed in, using telephoto lenses, on the Thai police confession sheets that the men were apparantly been given to sign (that they were trafifficking in weapons).

2. The crew zoomed in on the attached BILL OF LADING issued for the cargo in question.

3. The BILL OF LADING was issued by AIR KORYO the national flag carrier for North Korea (and used in the past for espionage and smuggling).

4. The crews then went over to the Air Koryo sales office in Bangkok and burst into the door, confronting a North Korean local employee, showing him video of what they had taken. He got nervous, angry, showed them the door and only said “this must be a fake document. That is not ours”.

5. Meanwhile, the crew said they were heading for Ukraine with the massive cargo of weaponry. However, the Japanese TV crew was at it again, they got a close look at the Bill of Lading with the destination, filmed it, and reaired it. It was clearly handrwitten in English on the sheet “MEHRABAD AIRPORT” (Teheran),”....SNIPPET: “(IATA Code: THR) is an airport that serves Teheran, Iran. This airport is close to the city center of Teheran and is not used widely for commercial international arrivals and departures, and is also shared by the Iranian military.

6. Japanese crews called Iran in Farsi and grilled personnel of Mehrabad Airport but they also denied that such an aircraft was heading or scheduled to head to their airport, and seemed perturbed by the call.

Summary of cargo at this time:

Multiple rocket launchers - two mobile units - and two dozen 240 mm unguided rockets. The total value of weapons found in 145 large boxes that weigh nearly 40 tons all up was estimated at around Baht 600 million.No nuclear munitions or weapons of mass destruction were found on board.

1 posted on December 15, 2009 9:54:32 PM PST by AmericanInTokyo

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2408505/posts?page=5#5

To: All; TigerLikesRooster
I should have added two things here about that critical, investigative Japanese TV report:
1) The same Japanese TV network’s female reporter stationed to NYC on the same day “ambushed” the senior North Korean chief to the United Nations as he got out of his limousine going into the DPRK Office. She chased after him and said “North Korea was involved in the weapons shipment, and it is violation of UN sanctions, isn’t that correct?”. The North Korean diplomat ignored her completely, looked VERY pissed off, and stormed inside a building without saying a thing.

2) The Japanese crew not only called the airport in Iran to get details, they got ahold of the stipulated RECIPIENT in Iran at the airport on the Air Way Bill who was supposed to receive the weapons. They had his telephone number and called him directly, talking and grilling him in Farsi. He denied everything but you could tell of his shock and anger.

Good job Japan. Israeli national security probably owes you a big thanks as well, as to the airport police in Bangkok who were on the ball.

5 posted on December 15, 2009 10:13:18 PM PST by AmericanInTokyo (Widely known overseas: “Yell “RACIST!!” & many Americans will shut up & you can control the debate”)

Thanks to Tiger Likes Rooster for this translation.

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2410124/posts

Thai Jet Fighters Forced down the Plane Carrying N. Korean Arms [Breaking]
Chosun Ilbo ^ | 12/18/09 | Kwon Kyung-bok
Posted on 12/17/2009 7:17:49 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster

/begin my excerpts

Thai Jet Fighters Forced down the Plane Carrying N. Korean Arms

Kwon Kyung-bok

2009.12.18 04:19

A Russian daily reports.

The IL-76 freighter plane of Georgian registry which got caught while transporting N. Korean arms did not land on Thailand for refueling, but was forced down to land by Thai fighter planes after entering Thai airspace, according to Dec. 17 report by Russian daily Kommersant.

The paper reported that, as soon as the IL-76 plane which left Pyongyang entered Thai airspace, two Thai jet fighters intercepted the plane and order it to land on Don Muang Airport in Bangkok, tipped off by foreign intelligence.

This contradicts the earlier account by Thai government that the plane landed for refueling and checking tires(?.) It also suggest that the plane was physically blocked in Thai airspace before scheduled refueling stop at Sri Lanka, while carrying N. Korean weapons in violation of UN sanction. Until recently, N. Korea’s arms exports have been mainly intercepted on high sea.

/end my excerpts

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