| From last week but worth a look for the inventory of weapons, which included man-portable surface-to-air missiles. From Pyongyang to Tehran to who, exactly? Even an old SA-7 can bring down an airliner. Also interesting reading is how the people who own the planes take care to hide their uses, registration, and ownership. Hat tip Josh Stanton, and some EFL. |
BANGKOK - The detention in Thailand of a cargo plane transporting weapons and the arrest of its crew remain shrouded in mystery. The destination of the weapons and identity of their buyers is uncertain. American officials and analysts believe, however, that the intervention dealt a blow to North Korea's arms sales.
The Air West flight's outbound journey was normal enough. After leaving Ukraine, the aircraft stopped to refuel in Azerbaijan, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bangkok before landing in Pyongyang. After picking up the cargo in North Korea, the crew told authorities, the flight was scheduled to stop in Bangkok, Sri Lanka, the UAE and finally Ukraine. What they haven't told investigators is where they planned to offload the weapons.
Thai authorities are baffled about why the plane stopped in Bangkok on the return trip since Thailand is known for close ties to the United States. A more direct route would have been over China, stopping in Lashio or Mandalay in Myanmar to refuel.
| But a plane full of weapons runs afoul of UN resolution 1874 which forbids weapons exports from Nork-land. Since China is a permanent member of the Security Council they pro'ly don't need an embarrassment like that. So the weapons go in a circuitous route with lots of deniability. |
Another flight from North Korea in November 2008 took this route in an attempt to take cargo to Iran that American authorities feared could be related to weapons of mass destruction. That flight was blocked when India refused to allow the plane to fly through its airspace. The Air West flight's scheduled stop in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was likely an attempt to avoid a repeat.
| Yup, and they'll keep looking for routes where the local authorities won't inspect the cargo manifests. |
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