NEW YORK, NY May 06, 2008 —The world’s most high profile international arms dealer has been indicted by a Federal Grand jury in New York City.

WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

Forty-one-year-old Victor Bout, a former Soviet military officer, has been indicted for allegedly conspiring to supply everything from surface and air missiles to ultra-light aircrafts to the Colombian paramilitary group known as FARC.

According to the four-count indictment Bout was covertly recorded pledging to provide the group the arms and training required to carry out successful attacks against the US military presence in Columbia.

Bout switched careers from soldier to international arms dealer in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Bout, is fluent in several languages, and created his own air freight company with a fleet of cargo planes that allegedly delivered weapons to global hotspots in Africa, South America and the Middle East. He was arrested in Thailand in April and is awaiting extradition.

For WNYC I am Bob Hennelly