Lyabedzka: “Dubious regimes deal with arms trade”

A “Belarusian trail” may be found in the incident with the IL-76 aircraft detained in Thailand.

The plane IL-76 carrying more than 35 tonnes of weapons was detained in Thailand on December 13. As largest news agencies report, the crew consists of three citizens of Kazakhstan and a Belarusian citizen, Mikhail Petukhov.

However, information about a country which could register the craft is controversial. The mass media state it may be registered in Georgia or Russia. Agence France-Presse says the weapons were carried from North Korea.

At the same time, the incident has a “Belarusian trail”, namely the crew captain, who is a Belarusian citizen. Leader of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka reminded in an interview to the website charter97.org that it is not the first time when Belarus has been involved in an “arms scandal”.

“We should take into account that arms business is very risky on the one hand, but very profitable on the other hand. For example, dubious regimes deal with this. If something happens, they have nothing to lose,” Anatol Lyabedzka says. “An influential Swedish agency researching arms markets said Belarus was among ten biggest exporters of weapons. The country has big supplies of weapons. It is also said Belarus may sell arms produced in Russia. Here we have sales in Belarusian and Russian weapons to the countries with arms embargo.”

According to the UCP leader, he won’t be surprised to hear that a “Belarusian trail” will be found in the incident with the IL-76, detained in Thailand.

“Taking into account an economic aspect and lack of money, I think Belarus wouldn’t refuse to participate in this business. I won’t be surprised if it will be found out that Belarus is involved in this matter,” Anatol Lyabedzka said.

We remind that the detained crew are in Klong Prem central prison in Bangkok. They are charged with illegal possession of weapons, giving false information about the cargo and arms trafficking via Thailand.