More Tidbits on Victor Bout
Here is the latest bit on one of Victor Bout's airplanes leased to the U.S. military: It was an Ilyushin with the registration number 9L-LEC, now operating out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, flying the Goma, Kissingani and Kinshasa routes. It was leased to a company called Jetline, who then subleased it to a company called Skylink, where it was used to fly ammunition for U.S. forces. It was withdrawn from Iraq for maintenance earlier this year, then sent on to Congo, where Victor is again operational. Amazing how many lives his companies have!
Anyone know anything about Jetline or Skylink? All information welcome and properly credited.
On the diamond front, the story continues to roll along. The AP and Reuters both did long pieces on al Qaeda's ties to West Africa, using the UN report (posted under documents on this site). None had any of the usual qualifications and wafflings by the intelligence community, which no longer seems so intent on shooting down the story.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone is now pushing to have the U.S. government designate Charles Taylor as a terrorist, and, based on that, to help with his extradition to stand trial. A few in Congress are interested in the idea, but there is no indication the Bush administration is. At this point, even if the intelligence community recognizes the truth about the diamond connection with al Qaeda, it is unlikely they would risk the embarassment of having Taylor discuss this open court.
1 Comments:
Doug, The Yorkshire Ranter posted this response to your request on his blog:
"Skylink may be a a Russian company, Skylink Express, listed as operating between 1994 and 2001. Its fleet consisted of two Il76 and an An12BP, which also saw service with more than one Boutco. 9L-LEC is listed by AeroTransport.org as being an An12, not as given by Farah an Ilyushin, manufacturer's serial number 4341803, active with a "private operator in Sierra Leone" but with a note to the effect that Skylink are the owners. It was formerly owned by another privateer in Kazakhstan, and interestingly by a company called Trans Air Congo. (Farah's source states the aircraft is currently in the DRC.) Before this period, little information is available.
This leaves problems. 4341803 is with a "private operator", but perhaps Skylink? Is this the right Skylink? Careful examination reveals that Skylink's "official" An12, MSN 1347909, has passed through a variety of highly dodgy operators including known Boutcos like Space Cargo and GST Aero Aircompany. It is currently leased to "Afrique Cargo Services" of Senegal. Was Skylink keeping 4341803 off the books, or was it operating under a false identity"
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