The Hill News

For almost two decades, Viktor Bout reaped millions of dollars in profits running small arms and other contraband to some of the world’s most infamous villains. From Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, to civil wars in Africa, to the Afghan Taliban, his wares fueled violent conflict and claimed countless innocent lives. The 25 year sentence handed down by a New York court last week marks the end of an era, but it also underlines the unconscionable loopholes in existing national and international laws governing the activities of arms brokers that allowed Bout to operate with impunity for two decadesâ€"and continues to permit legions of successors to fill the void left in the illicit gray market for deadly weapons.
 
Out of work at the end of the Cold War, Viktor Bout identified a growing demand for conventional weapons in emerging hot spots from Africa to Southeast Asia. With an acquired fleet of surplus Soviet military aircraft, he launched an air transport business c! onnecting weapons producers primarily in Eastern Europe to burgeoning new markets in the developing world. A sophisticated network of front companies and uneven global regulation allowed him to escape capture and prosecution. Over time his business diversified as his weapons became both a sought after commodity in their own right, and the currency to pay for other illicit goods. In addition to arms brokering, Bout was known to have been involved with former Liberian President Charles Taylor to trade diamonds for weapons in support of Sierra Leonean rebels. In South Asia, his aircraft arrived filled with weapons for the Taliban, and departed crammed with heroin destined for Western markets. Unfortunately, Third World dictators were not Bout’s only clients. His recent trial highlighted how the American and British governments also unwittingly used Bout’s aircraft to transport of war materiel to and from conflict zones.

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