Posted on Mon, Oct. 06, 2003
ARMS DEAL
Mercenary locked up in Miami for '91 plot
A British soldier of fortune is nabbed in Houston on an indictment stemming from a 12-year-old sting that he escaped from.
BY LARRY LEBOWITZ
llebowitz@herald.com
David Brian Tomkins, soldier of fortune, was headed to Texas for special training before setting off for Iraq to provide security for an American contractor rebuilding the airports.
The last place the longtime British mercenary expected to land was the grim federal lock-up in Miami.
A veteran of dirty wars from Afghanistan to Zambia, Tomkins had fled the United States in December 1991, a few steps ahead of an undercover arms-trafficking sting.
Prosecutors say Tomkins was trying to buy a small fighter jet to kill Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, but vanished before he was nabbed.
Nearly 12 years later, on Sept. 4, Tomkins landed at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, en route to Fort Bliss for training that the Defense Department requires of its Iraqi contractors. (snip/...)
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/6942839.htm "George Bush Intercontinental Airport?" :wtf:
Bonus photo!