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AMRS DEALER: Russian Viktor Bout was arrested in Bangkok last week by US agents in a sting opertaion. -- PHOTO: AFP
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BANGKOK - THE arrest last Thursday of the 'Merchant of Death' Viktor Bout in Bangkok has again underlined the popularity of Thailand as a meeting place for people of his ilk.
He had arrived at the Thai capital to meet arms buyers he thought represented the Colombian rebel group FARC.
In this case things were not all they seemed. The FARC buyers were actually US DEA operatives, and he was arrested at the end of a long and elaborate sting operation.
But the fact remains that Bangkok was the chosen venue for the meeting, and the man wanted by dozens of governments across the world deemed it safe to travel there.
Since the days of 'bikini killer' Charles Sobhraj - convicted for murdering two women in Thailand in 1976, and now in his 60s serving time in a Kathmandu jail - Thailand has been a popular place for rebels and criminals of various hues, from gangsters to mercenaries, from psychopaths to revolutionaries.
In Bangkok, partisans can pose as backpackers, and wealthy underworld lords can get their rest and recreation secure in the knowledge that there are avenues of escape if things get too hot.
Bangkok is a logistics centre and air hub, there is widespread corruption, there are many ways to get out of the country, and it is a centre for counterfeit currency and fake passports, say analysts familiar with security issues and intelligence circles.
'You won't find people like this meeting in Singapore. In Hong Kong they will be up against the powerful local Chinese. In India though it is a big country, it is difficult to keep anything secret, people notice and talk,' said one analyst who asked not to be named.
'Thailand is a laissez faire country with many land and sea borders. For a price you can do a deal. So long as you don't touch the locals or harm the country, it's a haven.'
Many security analysts surmise that is the reason professional international terrorists have not struck in Bangkok. If they ever did, that would put an end to the easy times.
The list of organisations and individuals who therefore frequent Bangkok is long.
One case in particular offers a possible clue to how corruption helps.
In 2000, the Indian gangster Chhota Rajan, who had split with his erstwhile partner, the don of Mumbai's underworld Dawood Ibrahim, now believed to be in Pakistan or Dubai, was wounded by hired gunmen - in Bangkok.
From the fourth floor of the private Samitivej hospital, Rajan escaped by climbing out of his window using knotted bed sheets.
The following investigation did little to clear the air.
Allegations flew that he had drugged his police guards, had bribed a police officer with 25 million baht (S$1.1 million) to set up the escape, and a team of mountaineers had helped him with ropes and pulleys.
Bribery allegations came to nothing, but nine police officers did get fired.
Also in 2000, the Thai authorities discovered that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were building a mini-submarine in a yard in Phuket.
The footprints of the LTTE, involved in one of the world's most brutal civil wars against the Sri Lankan government for decades, are said to be common in Thailand, whose Andaman coast is not far from the Tiger's naval base at Mullaitivu.
In 2003, the Thai authorities arrested an LTTE operative and deported him to Sri Lanka.
In September last year, it was even believed by many including the Sri Lankan government, that the LTTE's chief arms procurer known as Kumaran Padmanadan, or KP, had been arrested in Thailand.
That turned out not to have been the case. Sources say KP, who goes by multiple identities and passports, controls a multimillion dollar arms budget and is also wanted in India, was perhaps tipped off and managed to evade arrest.
That he was in Thailand seems plausible; he is said to have a Thai wife and Thai citizenship.
In a comment written after a visit to Thailand, Indian security affairs analyst Ashok Mehta, a retired general, wrote: 'The Thai authorities are reluctant to admit the presence of the LTTE on their soil, even less offend the Tigers and invite reprisals in a tourist-flourishing economy.'
nirmal@sph.com.sg
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