Lord of War? Russian Arms Dealer known as “Merchant of Death” nabbed…

The U.S. is seeking the extradition of a suspected Russian arms dealer dubbed the “Merchant of Death,” but for now he will remain in Thailand, where authorities are investigating if he used the country as a base to negotiate a weapons deal with terrorists, officials said Friday.

Viktor Bout, a 41-year-old whose dealings reportedly inspired a 2005 movie about the illicit arms trade, is accused of running weapons to al-Qaida, the Taliban and parties involved in bloody conflicts across Africa. He was arrested at a Bangkok hotel after a four-month sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Thai and U.S. authorities said.

“He is called the ‘Merchant of Death’ and ‘Man of War’ for a reason,” Thomas Pasquarello, regional director of the DEA, said in Bangkok.

American authorities intend to extradite Bout but the timing still has to be “worked out” between the two nations, Pasquarello said.

Thailand is investigating whether Bout was involved in “procuring weapons for terrorists and conspiring with terrorists,” Lt. Gen. Adisorn Nontree said.

Authorities in New York unsealed a criminal complaint Thursday charging that Bout conspired to sell millions of dollars in weapons — including 100 surface-to-air missiles and armor-piercing rockets — to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The U.S. considers the leftist rebels, who have been fighting Colombia’s government for more than 40 years, a terror group. Bout and associate Andrew Smulian were charged with “conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.”

Read the full story at Yahoo.