Viktor Bout, alleged arms dealer, indicted

NEW YORK, May 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. indictment unsealed Tuesday charges an arms dealer with conspiring to sell weapons to left-wing guerrillas in Colombia.

Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand in March, and the U.S. government is seeking his extradition.

Federal investigators say Bout has been an international arms trafficker since the 1990s, using a fleet of airplanes to ferry weapons to Africa, the Middle East and South America. In 2004, because of his arms sales to Libya, the U.S. Treasury department placed him on the Specially Designated Nationals list, which allowed the freezing of any assets he might hold in the United States and made it illegal for U.S. citizens to do business with him.

Bout, dealing with confidential informants of U.S. agencies who claimed to be representing the Colombian rebel forces known as FARC, agreed to provide a range of weapons, prosecutors said. He allegedly offered to supply surface-to-air missiles, rocket launchers, night-vision equipment, ultra light airplanes, AK-47s and millions of rounds of ammunition.