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2010-01-04 China-Japan-Koreas
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Weapons seizure hits North Korea hard
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| From last week but worth a look for the inventory of weapons, which included man-portable surface-to-air missiles. From Pyongyang to Tehran to who, exactly? Even an old SA-7 can bring down an airliner. Also interesting reading is how the people who own the planes take care to hide their uses, registration, and ownership. Hat tip Josh Stanton, and some EFL. |
BANGKOK - The detention in Thailand of a cargo plane transporting weapons and the arrest of its crew remain shrouded in mystery. The destination of the weapons and identity of their buyers is uncertain. American officials and analysts believe, however, that the intervention dealt a blow to North Korea's arms sales.
The Air West flight's outbound journey was normal enough. After leaving Ukraine, the aircraft stopped to refuel in Azerbaijan, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bangkok before landing in Pyongyang. After picking up the cargo in North Korea, the crew told authorities, the flight was scheduled to stop in Bangkok, Sri Lanka, the UAE and finally Ukraine. What they haven't told investigators is where they planned to offload the weapons.
Thai authorities are baffled about why the plane stopped in Bangkok on the return trip since Thailand is known for close ties to the United States. A more direct route would have been over China, stopping in Lashio or Mandalay in Myanmar to refuel.
| But a plane full of weapons runs afoul of UN resolution 1874 which forbids weapons exports from Nork-land. Since China is a permanent member of the Security Council they pro'ly don't need an embarrassment like that. So the weapons go in a circuitous route with lots of deniability. |
Another flight from North Korea in November 2008 took this route in an attempt to take cargo to Iran that American authorities feared could be related to weapons of mass destruction. That flight was blocked when India refused to allow the plane to fly through its airspace. The Air West flight's scheduled stop in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was likely an attempt to avoid a repeat.
| Yup, and they'll keep looking for routes where the local authorities won't inspect the cargo manifests. |
Continued from Page 2
A search of the plane's cargo after a tip-off from US intelligence sources found 35 tonnes of crated weapons inside the fuselage, according to Thai authorities. The haul included large numbers of rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), man-portable surface-to-air missiles, and two mobile multiple-rocket launchers, either M-1985 or M-1991's, capable of firing 240mm rockets. The weapons were removed by the Thai military to Takhili Air Force base in central Nakhon Sawan, north of Bangkok. Thai authorities estimated the value of the cargo at around US$18 million. The crew, who are likely to be telling the truth, said they believed they were carrying heavy equipment for oil operations.
The crew, four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus, are all men in their 50s and former members of the Soviet air force. Mikhail Petukhov, the Belarusian pilot, served in the Soviet air force for almost 20 years. Kazakh Communications Ministry Civil Aviation Committee chairman, Radilbek Adimolda, said the Kazakh pilots were on leave from East Wind, a Kazakh private airline.
International trafficking networks make extensive use of former Soviet pilots and planes, researchers say. The planes are notorious for being under-serviced and in violation of safety standards. The pilots, often without work for months, are willing to fly unsafe aircraft to obscure destinations and to look the other way on the cargo. The people behind the networks are rarely identified.
| If we had a CIA worth anything we'd infiltrate these networks of out-of-work pilots, and glean all sorts of useful information. |
All the men were working on contract to Air West, a company registered in the Republic of Georgia and holding the registration for the Ilyushin IL-76 freighter seized in Bangkok. The IL-76 was designed to carry heavy machinery to remote areas of Russia. Its ability to land on rough airstrips in remote regions makes it an ideal aircraft for transporting illicit cargoes.
The aircraft allegedly has a long involvement in transporting shady cargos. According to sources in the airfreight business, planes frequently change hands and registration numbers. The IL-76 detained in Bangkok was previously owned by a private Kazakh company, East Wing, then bought by Kazakh airline Beibers, which in turn sold it on to Air West, Georgia, in October, according to the Kazakh Transportation and Communications Ministry. Air West was registered in Batumi, Georgia in 2008 and its office is in the Ukraine.
For this flight, the plane was leased out to SP Transport Limited, a Ukrainian company. New Zealand authorities are also investigating a company with the same name. Both companies have a Lu Zhang listed as their director. The New Zealand company's shares are held by VICAM (Auckland) Ltd, which in turn is owned by Vanuatu-based GT Group.
Security analysts and freight operators say this type of paper trail is par for the course. Companies are shut down after being identified as trafficking in weapons or other illicit items or violation of air safety regulations, then open under different names. Aircraft similarly change registration, or are sold on or leased to other freight companies to disguise their business.
The detention of plane and crew in Bangkok may scare off would-be customers for North Korean arms. It is the second time a large weapons shipment has been interdicted since the imposition of UN Resolution 1874, passed in response to Pyongyang's refusal to stop its uranium enrichment program and ballistic missile tests held earlier this year. The resolution bans the transfer of heavy weapons as well as missiles and spare parts from North Korea and calls on countries to "inspect and destroy" those weapons.
Resolution 1874 is non-binding and relies on the resolve of member countries to enforce. However, in contrast to the rare seizure of North Korean weapons in years prior to the resolution, several actions have taken place since June to interdict stop North Korean arms shipments. A North Korea-registered vessel believed to be carrying weapons for Myanmar was forced to turn back in July after that country declared it would not allow the ship to dock. United Arab Emirates authorities in August seized a Bahamian-flagged ship, the ANL-Australia, which was found to be carrying North Korean military equipment destined for Iran and listed in the ship's manifest as oil-related. India has stopped at least two more North Korean vessels in its waters waters, although neither was found to be carrying weapons.
A halt in weapons sales would be a heavy blow to cash-starved North Korea, especially combined with the cutting-off of South Korean handouts that have kept the country's economy going. Arms are one of North Korea's biggest earners of foreign currency earners. Analysts say the regime earns more than $1 billion a year through arms sales, often to other rogue regimes or to rebel groups, many connected to gross human rights abuses. Its biggest sales are ballistic missiles to Iran and other Middle Eastern countries and possibly to Myanmar. Some security analysts claim the Bangkok seizure could even force the reclusive regime back into nuclear disarmament talks in order to win much-needed aid.
This is the second time in two years that Thai authorities have supported American efforts against international arms trafficking. In March 2008, US intelligence and law enforcement agencies carried out a sting in Bangkok that resulted in the arrest of international arms merchants Viktor Bout. Bout is accused of arranging shipments of millions of dollars worth of weapons to rebel and terrorist groups and governments around the world and has been indicted in New York on four charges related to terrorism. He maintains the charges against him are false. An attempt by the US to have him extradited was blocked by the Thai courts in August.
Although Bout is not believed to have had a role in the shipment of arms detained in Bangkok, there are some curious links to his trafficking network. The weapons plane had been registered to three companies previously identified by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control as owned by Bout. Beibers, the Kazakh company which sold the plane to Air West has been linked to alleged Serbian arms trafficker Tomislav Damnjanovic.
The facilitators and buyers of this shipment so far remain a mystery. The winding paper trail and fly-by-night companies involved make shipments such as these difficult to trace. Initial speculation was that the shipment was destined for Sri Lanka, Pakistan or the Middle East. In a commentary published in the Washington Post on Friday, Dennis Blair, the US director for national intelligence, gave a better indication of where the weapons had been destined to go. "Teamwork among different agencies in the United States and partners abroad just last week led to the interdiction of a Middle East-bound cargo of North Korean weapons," he wrote.
Whatever the intended destination for the weapons, the seizure of the plane and crew reiterates American resolve to isolate North Korea and force it back to the negotiating table. It also shows its ability to call in favors from friends to achieve this aim. For international arms merchants and their customers it may be time to look for a different source of product. 
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Posted by Steve White 2010-01-04 00:00||
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Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-01-04 01:00||
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Posted by Skidmark 2010-01-04 08:22||
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