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Nicknamed “The Merchant of Death” and the inspiration behind the 2005 Andrew Niccol film the Lord of War, Viktor Bout was arrested by Thai police in a Bangkok hotel. The suspected arms dealer was believed to be attempting to “procure weapons for Colombia’s Farc Rebels,” according to Thai officials.

Bout, a former Soviet air force officer, had been targeted by an international arrest warrant and was under heavy US sanctions. From Reuters:

According to the United Nations and the U.S. Treasury Department, he has sold or brokered arms that have helped fuel wars in Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

The U.S. Treasury Department seized his cargo planes and froze other assets in 2006.

However, according to this article, the US government may have actually been playing both sides of the fence. Planes owned by Bout flew US missions to Iraq. Paul Wolfowitz admitted in a 2005 letter to Congress that the Defense Department conducted business with “companies that, in turn, subcontracted work to second-tier providers who leased aircraft owned by companies associated with Mr. Bout.” These contractors doled out at least $60 million to Bout-controlled companies between 2003 and 2005, though, according Douglas Farah, co-author of the book Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Plans, and the Man Who Makes War Possible, the US may have been employing Bout’s services as recently as last year.

As if this hangover wasn’t enough.