-Caveat Lector- Sierra Leone: Italian police raid Revolutionary United Front chief arms supplier AFP20010710000152 Freetown Concord Times (Internet Version-WWW) in English 9 Jul 01 [Unattributed article: "Italian Police Nab RUF's Chief Arms Supplier"] Italian police have raided the modest two-room apartment home of Leonid Efimovich Minin, an international arms dealer and business partner and confidant of Charles Taylor, near Milan. The raid smashed an international arms-smuggling ring involving Russian organised crime that has been supplying weapons to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), reports The Times of London. Times reports that the raid was the culmination of months of painstaking detective work aimed at halting the trade. When the Squadra Mobile, or flying squad, pulled Leonid out of bed, the Ukrainian-born, who operates under at least 30 nicknames, remained silent and calm. He had 20 grams of cocaine on him. Leonid, now under Italian police custody has been charged with international arms trafficking, a crime for which he faces a sentence of up to 12 years if convicted. The police first started surveillance on Leonid when they were tipped off about his arrival in Italy early last year. Arresting him last August for drugs trafficking, they found him in the company of two prostitutes. They confiscated £300,000 worth of diamonds and cocaine and photographs of a variety of weapons. He was placed under house arrest and then released. Times newspaper quotes Walter Mapelli, the public prosecutor, as saying that the investigation focuses on two shipments of arms from eastern European countries to Africa - 68 tons of light weapons in March 1999 and a consignment of 113 tons last July which included assault rifles, Russian-made rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition. The arms, believed to be of Ukrainian, Russian and Bulgarian origin and including 10,500 Kalashnikov rifles, were falsely certified as destined for African countries, including Burkina Faso, which were not subject to the arms embargoes that the UN has slapped on Liberia and Sierra Leone. Leonid speaks Ukrainian, Russian, English, French, German and Italian, and is believed to have made an annual profit of about £125m from his rackets. When they seized his mobile telephone and other belongings, however, the police found almost no trace of phone numbers. It seemed that Minin had been punching out the numbers of his associates from memory. He had no computer at his disposal, only three mobile phones and a fax machine. [Description of Source: Freetown Concord Times (Internet Version-WWW) in English -- independent daily newspaper; root URL as of filing date: http://www.oe-pages.com/BIZ/Homebiz/tod] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om