The Kazakh and Belarusian crew of a plane arrested by Thai police for transporting arms from North Korea said on Wednesday they were unaware of the military nature of the cargo.
The Il-76 cargo plane, carrying about 40 tons of weaponry, was seized after landing for refueling at Bangkok's Don Muang airport on December 12. Officials said the weapons included missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. The plane's ultimate destination has not been revealed.
"The Ukrainian air freighter Aviatek and the Georgian company Air West Georgia, the plane's operator, assured us that under the terms of the contract the cargo was civilian," the crew said in a statement announced by a Thai lawyer who visited the crewmembers at Bangkok's Klong Prem Central Prison.
The Bangkok Post on Wednesday quoted a senior police official as saying that the crew would be charged with the illegal possession of explosives, punishable by "from two years to death."
The statement further said that during the loading operation in Pyongyang, the crew was staying in a hotel. "We found a sealed cargo aboard the plane. We only checked the fixings."
"If we had been aware that arms were loaded onto the plane, we would have refused to perform the flight," the statement further said.
Meanwhile, Russian businessman Viktor Bout, who remains in a Thai jail on the charges of illegal arms sales, said he had no relation to the impounded plane.
"The accusations in yesterday's and today's press that the plane of Air West Georgia air cargo company allegedly belonged to one of my companies are fabricated and are completely unfounded," Bout said in a statement.
Former Russian army officer Bout, 42, remains in custody in a Thai jail after the Bangkok Criminal Court refused in August to extradite him to the United States, where he is facing four terrorism-related charges and a possible life sentence.
BANGKOK, December 16 (RIA Novosti)
