Original subtitles

On March the 6th 2008, viktor bout,

A former soviet military intelligence officer And billionaire protected by the russian state

Touched down in bangkok.

He was there to shake hands on a substantial arms deal.

Yet viktor bout's arrival in thailand marked The closing stages of operation relentless.

This is the story of one of the most audacious sting

Operations ever conducted during the war on terror.

How a team of undercover operatives pitted their wits

Against a notorious criminal known as the merchant of death.

In August 1991, a group of communist hardliners Had staged a coup against soviet president

And general secretary, mikhail gorbachev.

But a determined group of democrats Had gathered at the russian parliament.

And boris yeltsin, The new president of the russian soviet Socialist federal republic,

Was about to have his finest hour.

This symbolic moment marked the beginning Of the end of the u.S.S.R.

On December the 25th, mikhail gorbachev resigned And the soviet union collapsed.

At that moment, the rules of the geopolitical game changed.

Suddenly, there was a new russia;

Capitalist and chaotic, a place where money was made.

Those with an entrepreneurial spirit took advantage Of the chaos to seize state assets

And sell them off to the highest bidder.

Many would become millionaires, many times over.

One of those men was viktor bout.

And he would become one of the most famous Or infamous russian businessmen in history.

Western intelligence agencies believe Viktor bout was born in 1967, and grew up in tajikistan,

A remote part of the soviet union.

Much else about bout's early life seems a mystery.

Viktor bout has a very shadowy

Hard to pin down background, It's like trying to pin jelly to the ceiling.

He had different passports and different names.

He was very good at covering his tracks.

He didn't make a huge amount of noise to the outside world.

Analysts later learned that bout attended The soviet military institute of foreign languages.

A feeder academy for the country's Vast intelligence apparatus.

Well, he was very gifted with languages.

He spoke english, portuguese, russian, Several of the native african languages as well.

People would talk about how fluent he was.

One would assume that given his language skills And the places he was based,

He was involved with the intelligence services.

In 1987, as a 20 year old Graduate of the institute, bout was sent to africa,

With a group of soviet military advisors.

We were not able to track very well what He actually did in angola and mozambique

And what his role was there.

He calls himself an intelligence officer.

Then, in 1991, when the old communist System collapsed, bout found himself without a job.

But as an ex-military intelligence officer With language skills and kremlin contacts,

He was perfectly placed to make a killing.

He understood what a market was.

He understood how to access that market and he understood How to make money from that market.

He was a true visionary in the sense of coming out Of a system in which capitalism

Had never been rewarded or was not understood.

With the collapse of the soviet union, Basically, everything was for sale.

For an undisclosed fee, bout acquired a small Fleet of soviet military transport aircraft.

Gary busch got to know viktor bout Flying freight in south africa.

Where on earth do you think a man of 22,

23 years old is gonna get enough money to buy an airplane?

He didn't get it because he had the money to invest.

How got it because the russian government Gave them to him to use.

Setting up a freight business In the united arab emirates, bout got rich quick,

Importing western goods to moscow.

Within a year, analysts estimate he was flying 220 tons of cargo into russia, every day.

But it didn't take him long to realize Where the real money was.

Viktor bout was the go-to guy for arms.

He is the guy that would supply any weapon system

Pretty much within a limited timeframe at a certain cost And could get it in there.

The russian state had a vast supply Of kalashnikov assault rifles.

Bout knew how to secure them, And exactly where he could sell them.

Africa.

Bout had lived in africa for five years.

As civil wars erupted across the continent in the 1990s, He cashed in on the chaos.

Bout was very good at the logistics Of putting this together.

We worked on different sides of the street,

Viktor worked for the bad guys, I worked for the good guys.

Viktor was very capable because he didn't get flustered.

Viktor bout wasn't supplying just one conflict,

He was importing weapons to war zones across africa.

His most loyal customers were former client-states

Of the soviet union; rebels, warlords and dictators

In sierra leone, the congo, angola and liberia.

His business model was really straightforward,

Make as much money as I can and do it at all costs.

A multi-millionaire by the age of 30

With a vast aviation empire, Bout's business expanded at a phenomenal rate.

He employed more than 300 people supplying assault rifles, Ammunition, land mines and tanks.

Bout's business thrived because he was prepared

To supply arms to both sides of the same conflict.

In many situations he was flying weapons To the government And also to the rebels.

And both sides would know, but they had no other person

Who could provide the level of service that he could.

And for clients without ready cash, He was happy to barter;

Arms in exchange for local commodities.

And often they'd say to the rebels, for example, "look, we know you don't have the cash,

"but we don't want the cash, we want your diamonds."

And they would arrive at the bush airstrip, Deliver their cargo of weaponry,

The cargo of weaponry would have a certain value And they'd fly out with a cargo of diamonds.

There is a certain amount of ego That goes with the job description.

Viktor bout undoubtedly would've enjoyed the notoriety.

In under five years, Viktor bout had a devastating impact across africa.

In the congo alone, the brutal civil war Left an estimated five million people dead.

More than in any other conflict since world war ii.

His impact was, It was like an earthquake across the continent.

The costs in human lives are in the millions.

The supply of kalashnikov's, rpgs, Heavy weapons systems was fundamental to the conflicts

Lasting as long as they did.

Viktor bout brought vast amounts Of destruction and devastation.

Visiting the amputee camp in free town, Interviewing people that had been brutalized,

That had been forced to commit murder, To even kill their own parents,

Really brought home the horror of the activities Of people like viktor bout and the deadly trade

That they plied throughout africa.

Viktor bout ultimately was The most successful illegal arms trader going.

Secretly, western intelligence agencies Had been monitoring the supply of illegal weapons

And tracking the man behind them.

Peter hain was the uk's minister for state In the foreign and commonwealth office at the time.

Almost daily I was seeing these intelligence reports About bout and I was saying to myself,

"what are we gonna do about this?"

The only thing I can do is to use parliamentary privilege As a minister and name viktor bout.

So, on November the 7th 2000, In a speech to the house of commons,

Hain conjured up a moniker for bout That resonated around the world.

Viktor bout is indeed the chief sanctions buster At the present time, a real merchant of death,

A real merchant of death, a real merchant of death.

If you can come up with a phrase that perfectly captures Something you're trying to describe,

Then you can make an impact The name stuck.

Peter hain's speech was sort of A fundamental point in people like myself,

Journalists being able to write about him.

It gave us legal cover to be able to name him, And it gave us a great little name for him,

The merchant of death which was very catchy.

And then, all of a sudden, People in the us intelligence community,

Other intelligence communities started really fixating On who is this viktor bout guy.

Former soviet military intelligence operative, Viktor bout was now a major target

Of u.S. And british intelligence services.

And they would soon discover that his arms dealing Had spread into new territory.

One that would eventually be his undoing.

By now, viktor bout's business dealings Had made him one of the world's most

Notorious weapons suppliers.

Fueling brutal conflicts And arming african warlords.

And nobody had tried to stop him.

But bout was about to acquire another client.

One that would place him firmly in the crosshairs Of the west's intelligence agencies.

In afghanistan, The bloody conflict between the mujahideen And the soviet union of the 1980s

Had descended into a brutal civil war.

Viktor bout had already provided The afghan government with arms.

And was on the brink of a new deal, For the supply of three million rounds of ak-47 ammunition.

That was a legitimate business to be involved in,

He was flying in weaponry to a, you could argue, A democratic elected government,

And why should he not be doing so?

But a little-known islamic group Had risen to prominence in the region.

They were called the taliban, And they wanted bout's attention.

The taliban forced viktor bout's aircraft to land on this

Little dirt airstrip in the middle of nowhere,

Took the crew hostage and took three million rounds Of ammunition for themselves.

Bout flew to afghanistan in person, To convince the taliban to release his crew.

He was granted a rare audience With taliban leader, mullah omar.

The story goes omar had a price for freeing bout's crew.

He wanted weapons for his war against the afghan government.

Bout obviously realized, And perhaps cut a deal,

That there was money to be made from running weaponry To both sides of the equation.

It was the start of a lucrative partnership.

In the first few months of 1995, The taliban took control of much

Of the southern and western regions of afghanistan, Likely using weapons supplied by bout.

At the time, it went almost unnoticed.

But in 2005, the u.S. Treasury would reveal that bout

Had made around $50 million from his deals with the taliban.

Radical islam is not really on Anybody's radar screen.

It was viewed I think generally As just massive chaos out there.

Then, everything changed.

After 9/11 of course the u.S. Government recognized

This unbelievable convergence of crime and terror.

Our war or terror begins with al qaeda.

U.S. President george w. Bush, Named osama bin laden, leader of al qaeda, Public enemy number one.

On September the 20th 2001, The u.S. Launched its war on terror.

Every nation, in every region, Now has a decision to make.

Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.

Within a month of the terrorist attacks

On the twin towers, the united states invaded afghanistan.

And it wasn't just the taliban the u.S. Was hunting.

They also vowed to bring those responsible For arming radical islamic groups to justice.

That kind of put bout in the spotlight, Because the u.S. Government was so focused on al qaeda

And the taliban and actually going after These people in afghanistan,

And it was pretty apparent that viktor bout played a role.

On February the 18th 2002, A red notice was issued for bout;

A global arrest warrant, For weapons trafficking and money laundering.

I think that when interpol red notice comes out, Then it's like uh oh,

I could actually you know, get arrested.

But by now, viktor bout Had retreated to russia.

Former intelligence officer, vladimir putin was president.

And putin prided himself on his loyalty To former intelligence comrades.

He offered bout safe haven.

The russian state was saying That they didn't know where viktor bout was,

So that showed the level of complicity the russians Had decided to take or the level of defense

They had decided to put over him.

From the safety of moscow, Bout surprised everyone by embarking

On a pr offensive to clear his name.

And he took the pragmatic decision, That he had nothing to lose by going public

And trying to win the public relations battle.

He went out to clear his name, and to try to say, Look, I'm just a supplier of goods

To people who have a need, that was his argument.

But in may 2004, came a tipping point.

In the initial chaos following the u.S. Led coalition's

Invasion of iraq to overthrow saddam hussein, The pentagon used whatever freight companies

Were on the ground, to deliver military supplies To their frontline troops.

One of those companies could be traced back to viktor bout.

Bout seemed to have pulled off the ultimate dodge, To move from hunted international

Arms dealer to armaments Delivery man for the u.S. Department of defense.

The world's most wanted arms dealer, Who was being hunted by interpol,

Flying in supplies to some of the most top secret

And secure air bases we had in any war zone of anywhere.

Later, investigators would reveal that bout Had made an estimated $60 million from the pentagon,

On top of the 50 million he'd made from arming the taliban.

The u.S. Government's embarrassment Made them all the more

Determined to bring the merchant of death to justice.

And in the summer of 2007, They turned to the drug enforcement agency for help.

Derek maltz was director of the dea's Special operations division at the time.

We had a international bilateral investigative team

At the special operations division that enabled us To go after the biggest and baddest threats

To bring them into america to face the rule of law.

And we were asked by the white house, To go after viktor bout.

We obviously took it as a challenge.

They needed a means to lure viktor bout Out of moscow and away from russia,

Away from where he was safe, To somewhere that he could be hunted down and arrested.

The dea knew only one thing would tempt bout

To leave the safety of moscow; a lucrative arms deal.

So they devised a top secret undercover sting, Code-named operation relentless.

The sting idea put together by the dea, Was that the team should pose as if they were guerrillas,

Fighters for the farc, terrorist organization in columbia.

And the reason they chose the farc, Was because it was known, at the time,

That the farc were actually seeking to buy Any number of surface - To-air missiles.

The farc was a guerrilla army using money From drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion

To fund their war on the colombian government.

Under u.S. Law, the unauthorized sale of surface-to-air

Missiles carried an automatic 25 year jail term.

The aim of operation relentless was to record bout Offering to supply them.

To run the operation against bout, Derek maltz chose one of the dea's leading case agents,

An ex-marine with two decades Of undercover experience, wim brown.

He was a very articulate and smart individual.

Very calculating, and you could see why he was very good

At what he did, 'cause he's a people's person.

Brown realized he would only get close to bout Through a complex chain of sources and informants.

We did our research, we looked through our

Dea intelligence systems to see if there was any reference To viktor bout, and there was.

And we noted that the case agent there had an individual

That had provided information specifically about viktor.

Brown contacted this individual, A confidential source, who passed on the name of a man

Who became the first crucial link in the chain.

A man named mike snow, who's image cannot be revealed.

Mike snow was a bush pilot back in the day, He was a former sas guy I believe

With the british military, Very sharp witted, told it like it is And told it like it was.

Crucially the dea learned that mike snow Met viktor bout in south africa in the '90s,

And the two had remained in contact ever since.

Mike snow spoke to viktor bout in a very blunt And unafraid tone.

And bout being a russian, and being from the background He's from, rather respected that.

So, they kind of had a mutual respect for each other.

Realizing the importance of recruiting snow As an informant, in September 2007,

Wim brown approached him, in a neutral location.

We said "mike, you know, if you're not interested "in helping we totally understand,"

And then the next morning we met again and mike said "I already made a phone call and boris,"

Which was the nickname for viktor, "was still involved in the game."

So, he showed a complete interest in doing this.

He'd seen what weapons have done throughout africa.

He knew that viktor had moved weapons in and out of africa

And I think he felt a need and responsibility to help.

But this was only the beginning.

They still faced their most difficult challenge yet.

How to lure viktor bout away From the protection of the kremlin.

By now, dea investigators were one month Into an elaborate sting operation To catch notorious arms

Dealer and former russian military Intelligence operative, viktor bout.

Before they could set the op in motion, They had to get close to someone in bout's inner circle.

The dea's informant, ex-sas pilot, mike snow,

Put forward the name of someone who was very close to bout.

If there was one person in the world, Kind of outside of russia and moscow, that bout trusted,

Who wasn't a russian, it was andrew smulian.

A british citizen raised in south africa, Andrew smulian helped to run bout's vast illegal arms

Business in africa in the 1990s.

Bout regarded smulian as a mentor, Swahili for grandfather.

When viktor bout was running his airlines Out of south africa flying everything and anything

All over africa to all different conflict zones, Andrew smulian was his second in command,

Running the business.

But smulian was now broke, Which made him desperate and vulnerable.

So in November 2007, snow made contact with smulian, Telling him there was a deal to be had.

Smulian took the bait and agreed to meet snow And his associates, face to face.

Now the dea had to move fast.

They realized they would have To put together a team,

With the credentials to make bout believe that they were

Working in that dark shadowy world in which he operated.

You know, you use a thief to catch a thief.

The dea, very pragmatically, Had taken any number of individuals

Who had been former drugs dealers, Or arms dealers and cut deals with them.

You may call them spies or whatever.

We use them to go in and infiltrate into organizations.

They could do things that agents can't do.

We can put 'em in to high risk situations.

It's their choice.

Brown pinpointed the perfect undercover

Operative to play the role of a weapons buyer for the farc.

A man the dea codenamed carlos.

Carlos became known as the king of sting, The go-to guy if you wanted someone to walk

Into the fire posing as an arms dealer, Or drugs dealer, or a terrorist,

And convince the bad guy that he was actually for real.

Carlos had served in guatemalan military

Intelligence before becoming embroiled in drug trafficking.

But he decided to switch sides.

He went to dea in guatemala and just said, "listen, this is what I've been involved in

"and I wanna get out of it."

We created a relationship over the years, And phenomenal hard worker who really

Did it for the right reasons.

In January 2008, carlos was sent by the dea To meet with andrew smulian for the first time,

At a restaurant on the island of curacao, Off the venezuelan coast.

It was to introduce carlos To andrew smulian to sell this,

To say, "look it, these guys are for real."

Carlos agreed to be interviewed For this documentary, but his identity remains protected,

So you will hear his voice, but not see his face.

Carlos' mission was to persuade andrew smulian To arrange a face to face meeting

With viktor bout himself, outside of russia.

Andrew got on the phone immediately To viktor bout, that he had something very important

To tell him and that this was a great deal.

For 11 days, carlos and the dea Heard nothing back from bout.

Then, smulian made contact.

He confirmed that bout would agree To a face to face meeting with carlos.

The two sides arranged to meet in romania, A former soviet bloc state,

Where the dea believed bout would feel safe.

What he didn't know was that romania Was the perfect place for the dea

To conduct an undercover sting.

We thought that we can get viktor bout To come into romania that would solve all our problems.

Their extradition process was very efficient and short.

And if we were able to arrest viktor in romania,

We knew that the process was a maximum of roughly 45 days.

The operation relentless team Flew to bucharest, set up a surveillance station,

And waited for viktor bout's arrival

But almost immediately, a problem emerged.

Viktor said there's a problem for me to go to romania.

Russian citizens need a visa to enter romania

And bout had an interpol arrest warrant to his name.

Days were going past where viktor was trying To get his visa to come in.

Viktor was on the phone with andrew discussing His problems about getting a visa,

And for us that was our tipping point to say, It's possible that this case is going down.

Carlos knew at this point, A genuine illegal arms buyer would play hard ball.

So he pretended to run out of patience, and pulled the plug.

So, we had to regroup and say, "okay we're pulling outta romania,

"we're gonna pull outta this deal."

Now, they'd have to sit and wait To see if bout would try to resurrect the deal.

Just six days later, Bout sent an email directly to carlos's undercover account.

When we got the email, to me it was like a home run,

It was like this is insane that viktor bout actually Sent an email back to the source.

The agents were like, "I can't believe that this guy actually used

"his real name to open up a g-mail account."

I think he believed that he was untouchable.

Soon after, viktor bout called carlos To set up another meeting,

In a location that didn't require a visa; bangkok.

This is a recording of that conversation, In spanish, taped by carlos.

The meeting was to be in a bangkok hotel, In just a few days time.

The dea went over the thailand, And my agents went over there,

They formed an unbelievable powerful team With the guys on the ground and made sure

That the thai police had all the information.

Bout, it seemed, Was looking forward to leaving moscow.

He had been sanctioned and he had been sitting In mother russia for a long time

And he wanted to get out and play I think.

Shortly after 10:00 a.M. On March the 6th, The world's most notorious arms dealer touched down

At bangkok international airport.

He was being watched from the moment he landed.

They had to do very covert type of surveillance.

They had somebody in a toll booth, They had another guy on the side of the road

Making like his car was like broken down.

We were so close, we didn't want viktor bout to get away.

Bout headed to the hotel where carlos And his dea team were waiting.

The dea had stationed personnel Throughout the hotel, and converted a room

On the 20th floor into a command center.

The thai police placed an armed unit on standby.

We had carlos in place, I said okay it's game time, Let's make it happen.

At just after 11:30, Viktor bout walked into the hotel lobby.

He believed he was about to shake hands On a massive arms deal.

This was it.

It was make or break time for one of the biggest Stings in the dea's history.

To build a watertight case against Notorious arms dealer viktor bout,

Dea undercover operative carlos, had a clear objective.

To record, via the wire he was wearing, Evidence which could be placed before a us court.

He was very proud in the hotel room to mention how The u.S. Is an enemy of his as well,

So he was very happy to know that these weapons Were gonna take out helicopters of u.S. Pilots.

Bout was recorded offering to supply Carlos with a staggering array of weapons.

We're talking about 5,000 ak-47s, We're talking about russian like gun and rifle parts,

We're talking about unmanned aircraft, We're talking about manpads,

We're talking about three million rounds of ammunition.

This was a big deal.

$20 million, 15, $20 million.

But carlos needed bout To offer something specific.

One of the list of armaments strictly prohibited From international trading or exchange.

The sale of surface-to-air missiles Is a 25 year minimum Mandatory sentence all in its own.

So, it was important for viktor to say I'm providing surface - To-air missiles.

At the meeting, bout claimed he could Supply around 700 missiles,

At a cost in excess of $120,000, each.

15 to $20 million to start off.

Bout even boasted to carlos Of his close links to the russian government.

He talked about getting ministers To sign off on paperwork.

What does a minister have to do with signing paperwork?

Recorded through his wire, Carlos now had all the evidence the dea needed.

It was time to take bout down.

But when carlos gave the pre-agreed signal To the listening agents to move in, a phone call,

There was immediately a problem.

We knew that they went up to reserve conference room On the 27th floor.

We just had no idea what room it was.

So it was a moment of like, where are these guys?

Do we have the right floor, are we in the right area?

Carlos played for time.

Everybody was concerned.

Did we lose this, had they changed their mind,

Are we up too late, are we there too late or whatever?

That's it, let's go.

Hands up, hands up!

So convinced was bout that the weapons deal Was genuine, He hadn't even bothered to arm himself.

Bout was taken into custody by the thai police.

After almost two decades of global weapons trafficking,

The man known as the merchant of death came face to face

With the dea team dedicated to bringing him to justice.

The agents and myself said okay, Viktor just so you're aware the individuals

That you've been meeting with, That andrew's been meeting with over the last three months

Are all sources that work for dea.

All of it's been recorded.

And viktor looked matter of fact and he said, "I guess you hold all the cards."

And it was a moment of okay, viktor knew that he was done.

Now the dea had one final challenge.

Getting bout back to the united states to face charges.

And that's when viktor bout's powerful friends In the kremlin stepped in.

And the one-time intelligence agent Became a pawn in a bigger battle.

It was like a power struggle Going on between the thais, The russians, the united states.

And, of course, it became very political.

It was outrageous that they were Blocking his extradition

When it was absolutely clear cut that this guy Was a murderous applier and trader in blood.

I guess their biggest fear is viktor bout Potentially cooperating in america.

What could this guy disclose to save his own butt?

Sources told the dea of bout's Clandestine meetings in the prison,

With undisclosed russian officials.

This was clearly not the consulate visit, This was much higher and this was at I believe

At high levels within the russian government.

And I think they were doing everything in their mind,

To protect him but also to protect themselves.

For more than two years, Russian and american authorities fought over bout's fate.

All the while, viktor bout revealed nothing.

We tried to get viktor to cooperate at the time.

It was more entrenched in him not to cooperate, Especially with the united states

Because of the cold war for all those years.

Finally, in 2010, the thai authorities Agreed to bout's extradition to the u. S..

On November the 15th, A team of dea agents arrived in bangkok.

The following day, so concerned there could Be interference from russian interests,

The dea gave him bulletproof clothing To wear on his way to the airport.

We got viktor successfully onto the plane.

And I remember viktor sitting in there in the corner,

And he had earphones on, and listening to music.

You got the guy out of thailand, You fought through this extradition process,

You got him on the plane, now he's on the turf Of the united states, that was a great feeling.

In court in new york, Bout faced four terrorism offenses, Including conspiring to kill americans

And conspiring to sell surface-to-air missiles.

His old friend and business associate andrew smulian

Testified against him, in exchange for a lighter sentence,

And the hope of a place on a witness protection program.

Throughout, bout remained silent.

He didn't say a word in his defense at trial, He didn't call a single witness.

And you have to ask yourself, why?

That would have risked revealing some of the secrets

Of the russian state, which viktor bout and his compatriots

Knew that they were not at liberty to reveal.

Because if you do that, if you do step out of line, As far as moscow's concerned,

You have no route back to russia ever.

On April the 5th 2012, Viktor bout was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Guilty of the illegal supply of arms To enemies of the united states.

It was the final act in one of the most successful sting

Operations in recent american intelligence history.

The dea and our counterparts around the world Were successful in taking him off

The playing field and putting him in a can.

I had seen some of the destruction that was involved With the weapons that he provided.

So, for me it was a great satisfaction To know that a guy like that was behind bars.

This was a man, the merchant of death, Who needed to be put behind bars

And needed to be made an example of for others.

Today, viktor bout resides In the united states penitentiary In marion, illinois.

He is not eligible for release until January 2030,

And is yet to reveal anything to the american authorities About his kremlin backers.

Like a classic russian intelligence agent, Like a classic spy, viktor bout went to his jail cell

Defiantly and in silence.

The russian foreign ministry vowed it will make All necessary efforts to return viktor bout

To the motherland, at the first available opportunity.