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BANGKOK -- Thai police on Thursday arrested Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer accused of supplying guns and ammunition to extend conflicts around the world, a top officer said.
Various official and media reports have linked Bout to civil wars in Africa and to helping arm the Taliban militia and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan and Marxist rebels in South America.
One British minister has called the Russian the "Merchant of Death".
Major General Pongpat Chayaphan of the Thai police told AFP that Bout was arrested at a five-star Bangkok hotel after a Thai court issued a warrant against him for attempted mass murder.
"He is now in the custody of the Crime Suppression Division. We will take legal action against him here, before deporting him to face trial in another country, likely the US," he said.
Russia could also seek Bout's return while Belgium had asked Interpol, the international police agency, to signal a global alert for Bout's detention.
"We have followed him for several months. He just came back to Thailand today," Pongpat said, adding that more details would be given on Friday.
A former Soviet air force officer who was born in 1967, Bout was dubbed the "Merchant of Death" by former British government minister Peter Hain due to his involvement in supplying arms to Liberia and Angola.
His life was also the inspiration for a film starring Nicolas Cage titled "Lord of War."
Interpol had issued an international alert for his detention for allegedly violating UN arms embargoes to several countries in Africa.
His name also appears on a US Treasury "foreign designated nationals list" of persons wanted for involvement in serious international crimes.
Bout has been accused of supplying Liberian warlord Charles Taylor and Congolese rebels.
Several UN reports have condemned Bout as a pioneer of cross-border crime.
A US Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman said Thursday that the agency believed Bout had been selling arms to the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in return for drugs.
The spokeswoman, Rogene Waite, said Bout was wanted by the United States and that US investigators had been involved in his arrest. US authorities were to announce terrorist related charges against Bout in New York later Thursday.
In March last year, US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against seven companies accused of fueling the war in Democratic Republic of Congo at the start of the decade. Three of the companies were linked to Bout.
A British newspaper, The Sunday Times, said in February that Bout supplied arms to Afghanistan's Taliban regime and its Al-Qaeda allies in the 1990s -- before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
In Moscow, a Russian law enforcement official was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying Russian authorities could seek Bout's extradition on suspicion of several crimes.
"Russia is currently waiting for official confirmation from Thailand.... After that we can demand his extradition to Russia," the unnamed official said.
An Interpol official in Moscow, Tatyana Trunayeva, confirmed that Bout was on the organization's international wanted list after a request from Belgium.
Belgium issued a warrant for Bout's arrest after several of his associates were detained there for trafficking counterfeit money.
