arms trafficking

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Trump Shows NRA He's Taking US Off Arms Trade Treaty

Obama signed the deal, but the Senate hasn't ratified it

(Newser) - President Trump told the NRA on Friday that the US will not support an international agreement that regulates the transfer of conventional weapons, including small arms, planes and ships. The UN effort was designed to prevent illicit arms transfers in violation of embargoes, the Washington Post reports. "We will...

How North Korea Sells Illegal Arms, Despite Sanctions

Capture of weapons cache in Egypt highlights how Pyongyang flouts UN

(Newser) - A major delivery of North Korean arms to Egypt last year was dashed only after American spies got wind of the illegal cache and, alerting officials in Cairo, essentially forced the US ally to seize the rickety ship. The dashed deal reveals the difficulty of stopping the illegal arms trade...

Calif. Pol Busted on Charges of Arms Trafficking

Leland Yee arrested in ring that also includes gangsters

(Newser) - There's your everyday corruption, and then there's what California state Sen. Leland Yee has been accused of. The FBI arrested Yee yesterday on sweeping corruption and arms smuggling charges, the LA Times reports. The affidavit names 26 people in all—including prominent political consultant Keith Jackson, and a...

Syrian Rebels Using Exact Weapons That Took Gadhafi Down

Rebel weapon pipeline shows how US arms could end up in undesirable hands

(Newser) - Obama recently announced he'd begin sending arms to anti-government rebels in Syria, but where have they been getting their weapons until now? Many of them come from Libya, reports the New York Times , thanks to a secretive, Qatar-financed supply pipeline that sneaks in unregistered arms previously used by Libyan...

Iran, N. Korea, Syria Block UN Arms Trade Treaty

Other countries to keep pushing for pact

(Newser) - Iran, North Korea, and Syria blocked adoption of a UN treaty that would regulate the multibillion-dollar international arms trade for the first time, saying it fails to ban sales to terrorists, but other countries refused to let the treaty die. The treaty's adoption required agreement by all 193 UN...

Russia Fumes Over 'Merchant of Death' Trial

Viktor Bout is an innocent man, says Moscow

(Newser) - Moscow isn't happy about the arrest and conviction of Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, MSNBC reports. This will “one of our top priorities in Russian-American relations," said a Russian official, a day after the so-called "Merchant of Death" was sentenced by a New York judge to...

'Merchant of Death' Arms Trafficker Gets 25 Years

Russian Viktor Bout shouts, 'It's a lie!' in court

(Newser) - A defiant Russian arms dealer dubbed the Merchant of Death for his history of arming violent dictators and regimes was sentenced today to 25 years in prison, far short of the life term prosecutors sought for his conviction on terrorism charges that grew from a US sting operation. Viktor Bout'...

'Merchant of Death' Extradited to US

Russia calls Viktor Bout's extradition 'illegal'

(Newser) - "Merchant of Death" Viktor Bout was extradited to the US today, and his native Russia is none too pleased about that fact. The alleged arms trafficker, accused of selling weapons to groups in Africa, Afghanistan, and South America, was indicted in 2008 of selling arms to a terrorist group...

Clinton Voices Concern Over Burma-N. Korea Arms Links

Secretary of state will push ASEAN for tough enforcement of N.Korea sanctions

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton is concerned about possible military cooperation between Myanmar and North Korea, the New York Times reports. In Thailand on the eve of the ASEAN conference, the secretary of state told her hosts that their country would be particularly vulnerable to a pernicious relationship between the two dictatorships. Clinton...

Obama Seeks $27B to Clamp Down on Border

Budget focuses on halting flow of guns, illegal immigrants

(Newser) - In the budget he’ll hand to Congress tomorrow, President Obama is seeking $27 billion for border and transportation security as he focuses on immigration enforcement and battling the flow of US arms to Mexico. The 8% increase over this year’s budget allows for an expansion of border teams,...

Obama to Push for Treaty on Arms Trafficking

(Newser) - President Obama wants to add muscle to America’s promise to curb the flow of weapons to Mexico’s drug cartels. After meeting with Mexican leader Felipe Calderon today, Obama said he would push the Senate to ratify a decade-old treaty on the matter, the Washington Post reports. President Clinton...

Obama Moves to Halt 'River' of Guns, Drugs to Mexico

Adds top cartels to 'drug kingpin' list

(Newser) - On the eve of an important meeting with Mexico’s president, President Obama yesterday imposed sanctions against the top Mexican drug cartels in a move intended to slow cross-border drugs and weapons trafficking, the Washington Post reports. After speeding up a process that normally takes a year, he added three...

US Ambassador Implicated in China Arms Deal

Envoy to Albania hid aging, illegal munitions bound for Afghanistan

(Newser) - The American ambassador to Albania personally endorsed a plan to disguise the origin of munitions bought by a Pentagon contractor, according to Congressional testimony. The New York Times traveled to Albania during an earlier investigation of a shady 22-year-old arms dealer operating out of Miami Beach. But the Albanian defense...

UN Troops Traded Guns for Gold

Pakistani, Indian troops armed rebels in Congo, BBC finds

(Newser) - UN peacekeeping troops sold weapons to guerrilla fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a BBC investigation claims, charging that the UN suppressed the story for political reasons. Pakistani and Indian troops, part of the UN's largest peacekeeping force of 17,000, are said to have traded munitions for gold....

Wal-Mart OKs Plan to Film Gun Buyers

Execs accept 10-point deal to curb illegal sales

(Newser) - Wal-Mart approved a plan today to videotape gun-buyers and curb illegal firearm sales in other ways, the New York Daily News reports. The 10-point deal with the bipartisan group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, helmed by New York's Michael Bloomberg, includes inventory controls and a log to trace buyers who have...

US Supplier Arms Afghan Forces With Ancient Ammo

22-year-old buys old Soviet-bloc munitions

(Newser) - The US military's main supplier for munitions to Afghanistan is an unvetted business run by a 22-year-old with no military experience and a string of domestic violence allegations, an investigation by the New York Times finds. And the tiny company's shady dealings with arms traffickers has left Afghan forces armed...

Thais Nab 'Merchant of Death'
Thais Nab 'Merchant of Death'
Mar 6, 2008 5:18 PM CST

Thais Nab 'Merchant of Death'

Russian arms dealer may face US trial for supplying terror groups worldwide

(Newser) - The Russian arms dealer branded "the merchant of death" was apprehended in Thailand today after US intelligence linked him to Colombia rebels, the New York Times reports. Viktor Bout is on international most-wanted lists for allegedly using his private air fleet to supply al Qaeda and the Taliban—plus...

Italian Cops Bust Secret Iraqi Arms Deal

US kept in the dark as ministry ordered guns that might have outfitted militias

(Newser) - A secret transaction providing the Iraqi government with over $40 million worth of weapons was uncovered by Italian police investigating local Mafiosi, the Guardian reports. Without the knowledge of American military commanders, the Iraqi interior ministry had ordered 105,000 rifles from arms traffickers, ostensibly to supply police. Italian police...

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