Thais Seize Plane Filled With Weapons (From NK to ?)

[tekisui]

Source: Times Online

Thai police have detained the crew of a cargo plane that landed in Bangkok over the weekend with a hold filled with weapons.

The plane, which had taken off from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang for an unknown destination, had made an emergency request to refuel at Bangkok. When Thai officials boarded the plane, a Soviet designed Il-76, they found up to 40 tons of weaponry including rocket-propelled grenades, according to local media.

Officials said they had acted on a tip-off from foreign intelligence. One told Reuters news agency that the US had supplied the information.

"It came from North Korea and was heading for somewhere in South Asia, probably Pakistan," the official added.

hai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaungsuban said the crew, from Kazakhstan and Belarus, had declared the cargo as "oil drilling equipment".

"But when we examined, we found it was all weaponry," Mr Suthep, who is also in charge of national security, told reporters.

"This case will proceed carefully as there are many parties involved... Everything must proceed transparently," he added.

more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6954868.ece

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I wonder who was to be on the receiving in.

[LakeSamish706]

1. I'm glad that the Tai authorities were on the ball with respect to this situation.

Could have been one hell of an eye opener for the recipient of these explosives.

And with this in mind, One wonders why the hell the Obama Administration (Justice Department) has not moved, to bring this past Administration (mis-Administration, actually) to justice. I guess of all things, this ranks up there as number one F***ups for me with the current Administration. Gotta say that it is in a battle with escalating the war in Afghanistan, but still ranks #1.

[StarfarerBill]

3. Who knows how many other shipments have gotten through?

Our war on terror hasn't significantly reduced terrorism, just caused it to spread out even more.

[LakeSamish706]

5. I'm absolutely certain that the 8 years of Bush/Cheney were detrimental in any

thing regarding Terrorism. There is no way in hell that the US is more safe now than it was before the BS story of 911 and anything that followed it. I am certain that any and all middle Eastern countries look upon the US as enemy number one. Kids are growing up in all of these countries right now trying to figure out how to do harm to the US of A thanks to Bush/Cheney.

[StarfarerBill]

6. Exactly.

And our continuing involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan will inflame that hatred even more.

[NBachers]

2. So . . . What exactly will happen to all this death machinery?

"The seeds of war. They're loading a full cargo of death. And when that ship takes it home the world will die a little more." Captain Nemo

[upi402]

4. Shipments like it happen all the time. Thai military has the arms

The US, probably CIA, tipped the Thai police. North Korea sells arms to Burma, it's a known problem I understand. The Khazak plane flew out of NK and it could have been going to Burma, or even Malaysia. The 5 man motley crew, one from Belarus and four from Kazakhstan, will likely sing like birds. They face Thai prison at best. And certain death if freed and deported.

[guruoo]

7. Il-76 designed for 'short field performance;' 'operations from rough fields'

'The Il-76 was one of the backbones of Soviet airlift during the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s'

Because it is designed as a military freighter, the Ilyushin Il-76 looks quite different
from passenger widebodies. It has a high mounted 'shoulder' wing, a so-called T-tail and rear
loading freight doors under the tail. When used as a military transport, paratroopers can be
dropped through these doors. The basic layout was similar to the U.S.-built Lockheed C-141
Starlifter, but the Ilyushin freighter has a wider fuselage and more powerful engines.
The fuselage is fully pressurized.



The Ilyushin Il-76 was designed with short field performance in mind and operations from
rough fields. That is why the Il-76 has a lot of devices on its wing to improve low-speed
characteristics at take-off and landing and a total of twenty low-pressure tyres. The front
undercarriage leg has four wheels and the main wheel bogies have two rows of four tyres each.
Freight handling is largely mechanised.

The Ilyushin Il-76 is in widespread use in Asia, Africa and eastern Europe. The aircraft is
still in production in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and more than 900 have been built.

http://widebodyaircraft.nl/il76.htm

[Hawkeye-X]

8. Maybe this?

[grantcart]

9. Here is an update from the Bangkok Post

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/29156/huge-n-korea-arms-cache-seized