A Thai court Tuesday rejected a US request to extradite an alleged Russian arms smuggler dubbed the "Merchant of Death," dealing a setback to American efforts to try him on charges of plotting to supply arms to Colombian rebels.
Viktor Bout, 42, was arrested in March 2008 at a luxury hotel in Bangkok as part of an elaborate sting in which US agents posed as arms buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organisation.