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Article: How can Britain still use the Merchant of Death? GILLIGAN ON MONDAY.
- Article from:
- The Evening Standard (London, England)
- Article date:
- May 9, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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VICTOR BOUT is the most notorious arms trafficker in the world. Linked to Osama bin Laden by the British Government, linked to the Taliban by the US Government, he was described by a New Labour minister as a "merchant of death" who must be shut down.
Yet an Evening Standard investigation has found that, just two months ago, a Victor Bout company was hired by that very same British Government to operate military flights from a key RAF base.
Bout, a 38-year-old Russian, owns or controls a constellation of airlines that have smuggled illegal weapons to conflict zones for the past 15 years.
He has been named in countless official investigations and ...