Weapons, which was on board of IL-76 detained in December 2009 in Thailand, was destined for Hamas and Hezbollah gunmen. This statement was made by Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, during his visit to Japan.
The minister named North Korea, Syria and Iran as a new «axis of evil» and stated that these states represent the greatest threat to global security, as they are engaged in manufacturing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, Lenta.ru informs.
«We saw an example of their cooperation two or three months ago, when in Bangkok there landed the North Korean airplane loaded with huge quantity of various weapons planned to smuggle to Hamas and Hezbollah», Avigdor Lieberman stated.
As Telegraf previously reported, IL-76 was arrested on December 12, 2009 after being examined at the airport of Don Muang in Bangkok, where it landed to refuel going from Pyongyang. On its board, according to the authorities of Thailand, there was found arms — portable missile systems, spare parts for surface-to-air missiles, electronic control systems of unnamed weapons — illegal to export from the DPRK on the decision of the UN Security Council. 35 tons in total.
The pilots were charged with illegal transportation of weapons, its smuggling in Thailand, as well as a failure to report the authorities about the weapons presence on board. February 14, 2010 a crew consisted of Belarusian citizen, Mikhail Petukhov, as well as the citizens of Kazakhstan, Alexander Zrybnev, Victor Abdullayev, Vitaly Shumkov and Ilyas Isakov was released from custody.
