# 5 held w/ plane full of heavy weapons from North Korea



## CougarKing (12 Dec 2009)

The 5 men held are from Kazakhstan and Belarus, even if the weapons are from North Korea, so I thought this deserved a seperate thread from the North Korea superthread.



> http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/091212/world/thailand_nkorea_belarus_kazakhstan_airport_weapons_crime
> 
> BANGKOK (AFP) - *Thailand Saturday detained five men after they made an emergency landing in Bangkok with a cargo plane from North Korea full of heavy weapons, ministers and officials said. The crew requested to land for refuelling at Don Mueang airport, where inspectors discovered a haul of weaponry including firearms and missiles, said deputy prime minister Suthep Thaungsuban. "They declared that the goods on board the flight were oil drilling equipment but when we examined we found it was all weaponry," Suthep, who is also in charge of national security, told reporters.
> Police said four of the men are from Kazakhstan and one is from Belarus.
> ...


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## vonGarvin (12 Dec 2009)

I missed it: where were they heading before they declared the emergency?


*EDIT:*
Did a quick search on news.google.  


> The flight schedule says the plane was headed for Colombo, Sri Lanka. Security authorities suspect the weapons could be destined for Sri Lanka or the Middle East.


From here


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## CougarKing (23 Dec 2009)

Technoviking said:
			
		

> I missed it: where were they heading before they declared the emergency?
> 
> 
> *EDIT:*
> Did a quick search on news.google.  From here



More information with this update about the plane's Sri Lanka destination:



http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=105&sid=1847576



> *Weapons-carrying cargo plane headed for Sri Lanka *
> December 23, 2009 - 11:05am
> 
> By DENIS D. GRAY
> ...


[


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## CougarKing (20 Jan 2010)

An update:

Associated Press report link



> SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan – *The trail of the plane busted in Thailand last month for allegedly smuggling North Korean weapons to Iran leads back to a small air freight company housed near an old Soviet airfield on the edge of the Kazakh steppe.*
> The aging Russian plane's odyssey took it through a web of companies, financiers and air cargo carriers with addresses stretching from New York through the Persian Gulf to New Zealand, an Associated Press investigation has found.
> 
> The persistence of carriers willing to ship anything anywhere for a price — even to countries under international sanctions like Iran and North Korea — has frustrated global efforts to stem the flow of illegal arms.
> ...


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## CougarKing (11 Feb 2010)

Thailand now will deport the crew of the said plane.

Associated Press link



> BANGKOK – *Thai authorities dropped charges Thursday against a foreign plane crew accused of smuggling arms from North Korea, easing a diplomatic jam but leaving open the vexing question of where the multimillion dollar illicit arms shipment was headed.
> 
> The five-member crew from Kazakhstan and Belarus was arrested Dec. 12 when the Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane they were flying from the North Korean capital Pyongyang landed in Bangkok.* Thai authorities, acting on a tip from the United States, found 35 tons of weapons on board — a violation of U.N. sanctions against North Korea.
> 
> ...


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