News Desk
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: US drug enforcement agency’s former agent Derek Malts has said that the release of disreputable Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout has threatened American national security.
Viktor Bout released
Earlier, Viktor Bout was released from a US prison in a prisoner swap with US basketball star Brittney Griner, who was in detention for 10 months in Russia for 10 months.
Malts, who helped track down Bout in Thailand in 2008, said that “the let go of one of the world’s most notorious felons has threatened the US national security,” according to POLITICO.
Maltz, who worked as an agent at the US Drug Enforcement Agency, helped the team that arrested Bout in Thailand 14 years ago.
Bout was accused of selling arms to African militants, Al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban.Bout, who was serving a 25-year prison term, was released earlier and landed in Moscow.
Maltz said that though he was extremely happy over the release of Griner, Bout now posed a greater threat to Americans than before.
He said that the “lord of war” was back in the game of supplying arms with the ability to cause more harm and destruction around the world, including in the US.
The former US agent said that Bout was now going to be smarter because he knew the techniques used to arrest him.
