Source: U.S. sought intervention, Pakistan 'probably' was destination
BANGKOK - Five foreigners were detained and their foreign-registered aircraft impounded after it landed in the Thai capital Saturday with tons of war weaponry on board that originated in North Korea, Thai officials said.
Air Force spokesman Capt. Montol Suchookorn said the chartered cargo plane originated in North Korea's capital Pyongyang and requested to land at Bangkok's Don Muang airport to refuel.
Government spokesman Panithan Wattanayakorn confirmed the seizure and the arrests, saying the weapons included "missiles, explosives and tubes." He told The Associated Press that the material was being transferred to a Thai military facility but provided no further details.
A Thai air force official involved in the inspection, who declined to be named, said Thai authorities had been asked by the United States to investigate the plane and its cargo.
"We were approached by the United States, seeking our cooperation to examine the suspected plane. It came from North Korea and was heading for somewhere in South Asia, probably Pakistan," the official told Reuters.
The Web site of the Manager Group said the aircraft, an Ilyushin 76 transport from Kazakhstan, was traveling from North Korea to Sri Lanka when it asked to land in Bangkok.
Officials, it said, found up to 45 tons of weapons on board and detained four citizens of Kazakhstan and one from Belarus.
The Thai TV station TPBS showed footage of the five men detained and trucks loaded with the weapons being driven out of the airport to a military base in the nearby province of Nakhon Sawan.
msnbc.com news services
updated 12:44 p.m. ET Dec. 12, 2009
Official: Thais detain plane with weapons from North Korea
Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Thai authorities seized a cargo aircraft carrying tons of weapons from North Korea during a refueling stop in Bangkok, a government official said.
The pilot told Thai authorities the aircraft was headed to Sri Lanka, but its final destination was unknown, according to Panitan Wattanayagorn, a spokesman for the Thai prime minister.
It contained about 35 tons of weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder-launched rockets and tubes that may be missile components, the spokesman said.
The plane, which was detained Saturday, had five people onboard -- four from Kazakhstan and one from Belarus. They will appear in court Monday on charges related to illegal weapons smuggling, the spokesman said.
Thai government officials acted after working with several intelligence agencies for several weeks, the spokesman said. The cargo was taken to a military base while the plane, which is registered in Georgia, remains at Don Muang.
Sri Lanka officials said there were no shipments scheduled in the country either by air or sea from North Korea.
"We have asked the Sri Lanka embassy in Bangkok to obtain details from the Thai authorities," the ministry said. "We will have more information on the progress of their investigation later on Sunday."
Such an aircraft could not have landed in any of Sri Lanka's airports without prior authorization, officials in Colombo said.
Last year, two arm dealers were arrested in Thailand. The men's arrest came after a series of events that involved law enforcement agencies from at least five countries, including two undercover agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Viktor Bout and his associate, Andrew Smulian, made millions of dollars delivering weapons and ammunition to warlords and militants, officials said.
Bout is accused of supplying weapons to war zones around the world -- from Sierra Leone to Afghanistan. He has repeatedly said he has not broken any laws and the allegations against him are lies
A Thai court rejected a U.S. extradition request for Bout in August.
