Confirmed: North Korean Weapons Shipment Was Headed For Iran
The Axis of Evil.
From CNN:
Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- Thai officials will deport and not press charges against the five-member crew of a cargo plane intercepted in the Asian nation last year, carrying tons of weapons from North Korea.
The pilot from Belarus and four crew members from Kazakhstan will not be prosecuted in Thailand, because it isn't in the country's interests to do so, Kayasit Phitsawongprakarn with the Attorney General's office said Thursday.
"We have just acted according to Thai law. The weapons are now evidence. We are waiting for the owners to claim them," Kayasit said. "If after one year no one claims, it will belong to Thailand and the Defence Ministry will decide what to do with them."
The five crew members have been released from prison and temporarily placed in the custody of immigration authorities, said their lawyer, Somsak Saithong.
The men were arrested on December 12 when their Russian-built Ilyushin IL-76 cargo plane was on a refueling stop after flying from North Korea. Thai authorities found the plane loaded with 35 tons of weapons including small arms and rocket propelled grenades, in violation of strict U.N. sanctions against North Korea.
Video: Plane seized in Thailand
Kayasit said the plane's crew is not being prosecuted, because the U.N. resolution against North Korea only calls on countries to intercept arms, not punish those transporting them.
But Kayasit said he expected that the men will be prosecuted by their own governments.
The final destination for the weapons was still not clear. A leaked report by the Thai government to the U.N. Security Council said there was evidence the plane's final destination was Iran.
Thai officials have not confirmed the report.
-
Newsmax: Turkey Says It Seized Illegal Iran Arms Shipment Thursday, 31 Mar 2011 03:58 PM UNITED NATIONS — Turkey has informed a U.N. Security Council panel that it seized a cache of weapons Iran was attempting to export in breach of a U.N. arms embargo,...
- North Korea Arms Plane ‘bound For Hezbollah’
Times Online: James Hider, Jerusalem An aircraft full of weapons seized in Bangkok last year was heading from North Korea to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, and Hamas, the Palestinian group, Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli Foreign Minister, said yesterday....
-
Newsmax: Israel FM: Iran, Syria, NKorea New 'Axis of Evil' Wednesday, 12 May 2010 06:35 AM Israel's foreign minister on Wednesday declared North Korea, Syria and Iran the new "axis of evil," claiming that North Korean weapons seized in Bangkok...
- Not So Strange Bedfellows
But evil nevertheless. By the pricking of my thumbs. . . Newsmax: -Soviets, North Korea Conspiring to Arm Iran Tuesday, 22 Dec 2009 01:11 PM By: Theodore Kettle In an amazingly ironic twist, the second foiled shipment this year of North Korean arms bound...
- "war Is Inevitable"
In an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer, North Korean Gen. Ri Chan Bok sent a message to the world: Oct. 19, 2006 — If President Bush continues to ask North Korea to "kneel," war "will be inevitable," and it would begin on the Korean Peninsula,...