BANGKOK, March 6: Thai police said on Thursday they had arrested Viktor Bout, an internationally wanted arms dealer accused of flouting UN embargoes and wanted by the United States.

Major-General Pongpat Chayaphan said Bout was arrested at a five-star hotel in downtown Bangkok after a Thai court issued a warrant against him for attempted mass murder.

“He is now in the custody of the Crime Suppression Division. We will take legal action against him here, before deporting him to face trial in another country, likely the US,” he said.

“We have followed him for several months. He just came back to Thailand today,” Pongpat said, adding that more details would be made available on Friday.

A former Soviet air force officer, Bout has been dubbed the “Merchant of Death” by a British government minister, Peter Hain, due to his involvement in supplying arms to Liberia and Angola.

His life was also the inspiration for a film starring Nicolas Cage titled “Lord of War”. He is wanted by the international police organisation Interpol for allegedly violating UN arms embargoes to several countries in Africa.

His name also appears on a US Treasury “foreign designated nationals list” of persons wanted for involvement in serious international crimes.

Bout has been accused of supplying notorious Liberian warlord Charles Taylor and Congolese rebels, and is also said to have supplied arms to Afghanistan’s Taliban government in the 1990s.

After his arrest, a Russian law enforcement official was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying Moscow could also seek Bout’s extradition on suspicion of several crimes.

“Russia is currently waiting for official confirmation from Thailand....After that we can demand his extradition to Russia,” the unnamed official said.

An Interpol official in Moscow meanwhile confirmed that Bout was on the organisation’s international wanted list after a request from Belgium.—AFP