Paphos People

BANGKOK (AFP) - A Thai court Saturday sent Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to a maximum security prison, as his lawyer denied that the man known as the "Merchant of Death" was supplying arms to Colombian rebels.

Bout, wearing a red polo shirt and khaki shorts, appeared in a Bangkok criminal court for a remand hearing, and was fingerprinted in front of the media.

Over the years, the former Soviet air force officer is said to have supplied arms to Afghanistan's hardline Taliban militia, Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network, Marxist rebels in South America and former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.

The Russian's dealings are thought to have inspired the Hollywood movie "Lord of War," starring Nicolas Cage as a ruthless arms trader.

Bout, 41, appeared relaxed during his brief hearing Saturday, giving a thumbs-up to a Russian man in the crowd at the courthouse, while joking and laughing with police as he waited to be taken to the Klong Prem prison outside Bangkok.

The Russian man, who identified himself only as a friend, said he wanted to give Bout three packs of cigarettes to use as currency in prison. Police did not let Bout take the cigarettes.

Lak Nitiwatvichan, his Thai lawyer who was recommended by the Russian embassy in Bangkok, insisted that Bout had done nothing wrong but said he was willing to stand trial in Thailand.

"He was a military man. He has done nothing wrong," Lak told reporters, adding that he would seek Bout's release on bail.

"Thailand is a sovereign country, so since he was arrested in Thailand, he is willing to be prosecuted under Thai law," he said.

Bout was arrested Thursday at a posh Bangkok hotel in a sting operation with Thai police and American anti-drug agents who had posed as Marxist Colombian rebels seeking an arsenal of weapons.

He will be held in Klong Prem as Thailand conducts further investigations to determine whether he could be prosecuted here.

Bout was arrested on a warrant charging him with procuring assets for terrorists, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The United States, however, is also determined to extradite him on charges of conspiring to sell millions of dollars in weapons to Colombian FARC rebels.

Russia also plans to seek Bout's extradition, while Belgium has worked for years to capture him through the international police agency Interpol.

Bout's lawyer in Moscow late Friday demanded that his client be returned to Russia.

"We will insist that Viktor Bout is returned to our country. We will use legal means. We will ask our officials, our president, our government to protect this citizen," the lawyer, Viktor Burobin, told Echo of Moscow radio.

Bout's brother Sergei also rejected the accusations against his brother as "mythical."

"He's a normal businessman... Can a taxi driver be described as an accessory just because a passenger in his car has a gun in his briefcase?" Sergei Bout said in the same interview with the lawyer.

"He just transports goods."

Bout and his close associate Andrew Smulian are wanted in the United States for conspiracy to provide support to a terrorist organisation, and face up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

Mystery surrounded the fate of Smulian, with Thai police saying they were still searching for him and US agents declining to comment on his whereabouts.

The 12-month undercover operation had agents from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) infiltrating Bout's inner circle posing as Marxist Colombian rebels seeking an arsenal of weapons.