RAS AL KHAIMA TO CONFISCATE ABANDONED VIKTOR BOUT AIRCRAFT

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBAI 000333

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

TREASURY FOR OFAC BARBARA HAMMERLE AND ANDREAS MORGNER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/16/2017
TAGS: ECON EAIR ETTC PGOV PINS SOCI KCRM LI AE
SUBJECT: RAS AL KHAIMA TO CONFISCATE ABANDONED VIKTOR BOUT AIRCRAFT

REF: 06 DUBAI 4121

CLASSIFIED BY: Paul R Sutphin, Consul General, Dubai, UAE.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



1.(C) Steve Adams, Vice President of Airport Operations for Ras
al-Khaimah (RAK) Airport recently told poleconoff that the RAK
Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) would soon be authorized to
confiscate and dispose of two aircraft belonging to Viktor Bout
(reftel). The two aircraft are a Gulfstream G-1, registration
N-12RW and an Ilyushin IL-76, registration 5A-DNI. Both
aircraft were operated by Wing Air, which Adams had been told
was a Bout company. Adams said that the DCA plans to scrap the
IL-76 and will turn the G-1 over to the RAK airport to use for
training firefighters. Both aircraft have been parked at RAK
airport for more than four years.

2.(C) According to Adams, the UAE General Civil Aviation
Authority (GCAA) informed the DCA that it had no objection to
the DCA filing a motion with the UAE Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
to confiscate two aircraft owned by Viktor Bout. As of mid-May,
DCA was still waiting for final MoJ approval to confiscate and
dispose of the aircraft.

3.(C) When asked why the process of confiscating the aircraft
has taken so long, Adams explained that the GCAA first had to
obtain permission from the states of registry - Libya for the
IL-76 and the United States for the G-1. Since checking with the
countries of registry, the process of approving confiscation has
been slowed by bureaucratic inertia.

.

SUTPHIN