Thailand deported a five-man plane crew that it detained with a 35-tonne cache of sanctions-busting arms from North Korea yesterday after charges against them were dropped.
The Belarussian pilot and four Kazakh crew flew out of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport on a commercial flight bound for Almaty, the Kazakh capital, said an immigration official who refused to be named.
“All five men are on board KC932 and it has taken off on time,” the official said.
They were detained in December after flying into Bangkok to refuel with a cargo that included missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.
The US applauded the seizure as an achievement in enforcing North Korean sanctions and is believed to have played a role in tipping off Thai authorities.
Thailand initially charged the men with possessing illegal weapons and ammunition, smuggling weapons and other banned products and failing to report the cache.
However, the attorney-general’s office said on Thursday it was not in the national interest to pursue the case and that the five would be deported.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters that officials had already coordinated with the men’s home countries to organize their reception.
Belarus and Kazakhstan petitioned Bangkok to allow the men to be released for trial in their own countries.
The crew landed at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport in the Ilyushin freight plane on Dec. 11 for refuelling, claiming that they were carrying oil drilling equipment bound for Ukraine.
The UN banned all North Korean arms exports last June and the Bangkok case is believed to be the first breach of the resolution with an airborne cargo.
The US was instrumental in passing the resolution following Pyongyang’s latest missile and nuclear tests.
Following the Thai decision to drop the case, US embassy spokeswoman Cynthia Brown said yesterday: “This was a matter for the Thai attorney-general’s office to decide. We respect the independence of Thailand’s system.
“We do want to applaud Thailand for their implementation of the resolution and their responsible decision to report this information,” she said.
The UN committee set up to enforce the resolution was continuing to investigate the incident, she said.
Abhisit said the government was awaiting the UN’s recommendation on what to do with the haul, which is being held at an air force base north of Bangkok.
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