Ffiiq Zrb'6'- Stacye
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Embassyof the U ited States of America ;-: n ., , .r;. FerqlnKl l "i August.23,1 999 i \i{ Dr.Johan Backman (), OikeuspoliittinenTutkimuslaitos PL1200 !' 00101Helsinki Dearl\y'r. Backman: Greetings.I have recently arrived in Helsinkitoserve as the U.S.Embassy's Press andCultural Attach6. In this capacity, lwould like to offermyself and my staff as a resourceon topicsof mutualinterest. Ambassador Edelman and other colleagues in the Embassyhave suggested that \,.ou might be interestedin receivingtopical materialson lawenforcement issues. Accordingly,I am enclosinga coupleof articleson transnational organized crime writtenby RaymondBonner, a staffwriter for the New YorkTimes. Bonner writes on oiEa;,i:redLrir're perietir,iiorr oi ieg|t.mate financral markets (a topic which has also beenthe subjectof recentpress rel)orts on the Swissbanking industry) and the growingillicit trade in small arms traCing. lf youare interested in corruptiontopics, I wouldlike to drawyour attention to recent articlesthat focus on multi-nationalanti-corruption efforts including a recent workshopbetween the OECD and []ussia. Thesematerials can be found at: httplqrytry.lablbQ!.a4:&$tlinlgglqi!!q or htlD://www.usia.gov/topiqalleon/bribes, amongother sites. lf youwould like a packetin print,cr wouldlike to receivefuture materials via e-mail, pleasejust call us or e-mailmy office. Sincerely, ffiiq Zrb'6'- StacyE. White U.S.Embassy Helsinki Phone:09 175-138 e-mail: !t itc.,.!,,, h ite @' usenl bassy. ii or DIqj!]]1t!!e!rbassv.li homepage:www.usembassy.f i MurkyLife ofan tnEmationalOun Deller huprAearch.nytimes.cotr/search/daily/...ite+site+l?179+26+wAAA+Raymond%TEBonr lnternatlonal arrqr[!*h.r @@@@@r@ July 14,1998 Murkv Life of an International Gun Dealer RelatedArticles . U.N. Aereesto Help AlbanianCovernrnent Disarm Civilians . 21 NationsSeek to Limit Traffic in Light Weapons(July 13) . CanadaReleases lranians Susoected of ArmsSmugeling (May 16) . Albanians.Struggling to Survive.Sell Stolen Rifles (Apt1l24,1997) Forum . Joina Discussionon GunControl Ay RAYMOND BONNER -- I ONDON en arhletic-lookingDane, with blond hair, blue eyes and an arrest r warrantfor amed robbery.hires a Britisharms dealer with a colorfulresume. In Latvia,they buy a Russiancargo plane and have it flown to Bulgariawhere ir is loadedwith 77 casesof weapons,including 300 assault rifles, ammunition, pistols, handerenades and rocket launchers. Theplane then heads edst to India.When it getsover the A rvoRLDoF villageof Purulia,near Calcutta, the weapons are shoved out, ARtts driftingdown under parachuie rigging purchased in South Africa.The deal is financedout of HongKong. The intended weaponsin theski recipientis a violentreligrous sect. Howeverfictional it mightsound, lhis wasa real-lifearms shipment, one that revealsthe circuitous measures terrorists and rebel groups employ to getweapons, andhow relativelyeasy it is for lhemto do so.It alsoillustrates the almost complerelack of intemationalcontrols on thesmall-arms trade. (In Osloon Monday,the United States and 20 othergovemments opened a meetingto discuss measuresto dealwith thespread of assaultrifles, pistols, grenades and other so-calledsmall arms.) Generallyit is not a cfimefor a weaponsdealer to getaround the arms-control lawsof his countryby havingthe weapons shipped from anothercountry. "It's a hugeloophole," said Geraldine O'Callaghan, an analyst at theBritish AmericanSecurity Information Council, an independentgroup that lobbies on small-amsissues. "It needsto be addressedu.gently." ln the UnitedStates, the Clinton administration closed this loopholetwo yealsago by givingthe State Depaftment greater authority to monitorand regulate arms brokcrs.As a result,American arms dealcrs ate now subjectto thesame laws whetherthey are shipping weapons directly from theUnited States or brokering dealsabroad. The administration is pushingother countries to adoptsimilar I of .l 7/27l99l?;lE Pl,1 MurkyLife of an lntcm.tion.tCu Dealcr hrlpi//scarch.nytimes.coft/selrclvdaily/...ne+sire+17179+26+wAAA+R!ymond%7EBon controls. Britainplans to addressthis, but only in part,by preventingarms dealers from sellingweapons to countrieson whichthe United Nations has arms embargoes, While weaponsfalling from thesky is downrightbizarre, the orher elements of this taletypify a black-marketsmall-arms transaction. "You havedeals like this beingbrokered on all continentsof theworld every da, saidDonald Manross, an Americanwho is directorof thefirearms and explosives divisionat Interpol,the internationalpolice group that is still invesrigatingthe Puruliadeal, which occuned in late 1995. It is easierfor theblack-market trade to floudshbecause even legal transactions arehighly secrer. To protectthe commercial interests of businesses,most govemments,including the United States, do notdisclose information about licensesissued to armsexporters. AIso,the document that governments rely on to controlthe destination of weapons, the so-calledend-user certificate, can be easily forged, and a dealerhas no legal responsibilityto checkon thevalidity of thiscenificate before shipping the w€apons.Rebel groups and tenorists use phony end-user certificates in orderto disguisewhere the weapons will wind up. Britainhas tough export controls, but in thissale to theIndian religious sect, none ofthe armstouched British soil andno Britishdocuments were involved. Thus, while theBritish arms broker, Peter von Kalkstein-Bleach, languishes in a Calcutta jail on chargesofwaging war against India -- his planewas forced down when the dealwent sour -- he doesnot appearto haveviolated any laws in Britainwhere he wasbased. Nor is theother British arms-trading company, Border Technology and InnovationsLtd., whichananged for theweapons to bebought and shipped from Bulgaria,accused of anycrime. Bleachhas pleaded not guilty in Indiato 12counts, all of whichcarry the death sentence. If significantcuds aregoing to be madeon th€shadowy alms trade, said Manross of Intelpol,end-user certificates need to bestandardized so that it is moredifficult for th€mto be forgedand easier for a companyto checkthcir validity. Manrossnoted that in thelast year there has been considerable discussion among a few govemmentand independent groups that study the small-arms trade about the needto crackdown on theillicit tradein smallweaDons. "Now. we haveto movc to concreteaction," he said. Bleach'sdeal began in thesummer of 1995when he heardfrom a German commoditiestrader tha! a Danishbusinessman wanted to buy weapons. Like manyarms traders, Bleach, now 47, hasa militarybackground, having served in theBritish army. Afterward, he wasa prisonguard in whatwas then white-ruled Rhodesia.He retumedto Britainas a privateinvestigator and later took up commoditiestrading, including arms deals. His company,Aeroserve, has a Iicense from theBritish Defense Ministry. 2of4 7/17199I l: llt Pl MurkyLife of anIntematioialGun Deale. hrtp://redrch ny ' m.5.corvsearcVdarlt/... k -nE . Jl I 79-26+wA A A + Rry mond%7EBonr "He'sa walterMitty character, and a bit of a lady'srnan," said Christopher Hudson,who met Bleach 15 years ago in thecourse of theirpolitical activities in theTory Party. Hudson,who is engagedin a campaignto saveBleach from hanging,likes to call Bleach"the Milk Tray man."It is a referenceto an advertisementpopular in Britain in the 1970s,where a dashingman in a blackpolo shirt jumps out of planes andhelicopters and braves shark-infested warers or otherdangers to delivera lady herCadbury's chocolates. For the Puruliadeal, Bleach showed up in Amsterdamto meeta manwho introducedhimself as Kim Davy.Bleach also met with Davy andhis lawyerat the businesscenter ofthe IntercontinentalHotel in centralLondon. Davy'sreal name is NielsChristian Nielsen. He wasbom in Denmarkin December 1961,accordidg to a confidentialInterpol report. He tookthe name Kim Davy from a New Zealandinfant who diedat theage of 5 weeks.He hasalso engaged in gold anddrug smuggling, money laundedng and counterfeiting $100 bills, accordingto thereport Interpol refers to asa "rednotice." A te€totalerand vegetarian, Nielserl is a memberof theAnanda Marga, a Hindu fundamentalistgroup founded in 1955in India,according to Interpol.The polce agencysays that the sect has been responsible for "manyacts and threats of violenceagainst Indian govemment buildings and personnel," and was the intendedrecipient of th€weapons. Davy eluded the Indian police when Bleach was seizedand is still at large.Several European countries also want him for crimes rangingfrom armedrobbery to counterfeiting. A seriesof faxesfrom Bleachto Davyand his partnersprovides rare glimpses insidethe world of small-armstrading "I stressedfrom the v€rybeginning that in orderto be successful,it is most importantthat this resemblesa perfectly normal hansactior in everypossible way," Bleachwrote in onefive-page fax. "No singlecontracto. should be awareof theentire route," Bleach scolded. Only thepilot shouldbe awareof theultimate destination of theweapons, he said. For reasonsthat are not completelyclear, at thetime he wasmeeting with Davy, Bleachdecided to go to theBritish authorities. In a letterto tlle BritishDefense Ministry, one that is againhighly revealing, Bleachsaid that if hebacked out ofthe deal,Davy "wiu simplygo elsewhere,and somebodyelse will providethe goods. In theend, he took$30,000 from Davyand bought the Russian aircraft, Hudson said.After theoperation, Bleach planned to sellthe plane and keep the money as partof his profit,Hudson said. To getthe a[ms, Bleach tumed to BorderTechnology, an arms-tradingcompany