Air crew denies any knowledge of North Korean arms on cargo plane
The crew of a cargo plane flying from North Korea swore they didn’t know they had been ferrying 30 tons of rockets, grenade launchers and other weapons. “They said it was oil drilling equipment. That’s what the manager told us,” said Viktor Abdullayev, the plane’s co-pilot, speaking about a civilian cargo company from the Georgian Republic. Abdullayev has obviously watched Nicholas Cage’s “Lord Of War” about an arms dealer once too often. Abdullayev said they started their excursion in Ukraine, picked up cargo in North Korea and were returning to Ukraine via Thailand, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates. The Thais said they seized the weapons after a tip-off from American officials. Thailand was acting under UN Resolution 1874, which is effectively an arms embargo covering the transport of heavy weaponry to and from North Korea. Such weapons sales are one of the few ways the country has been able to earn foreign currency. For more, read the New York Times
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