A British associate of alleged Russian "Merchant of Death" Viktor Bout charged with aiding terrorism was ordered detained in New York on Monday. ( Reuters )
Andrew Smulian, 46, was charged last week in New York along with Bout of arranging to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Smulian appeared in Magistrates Court in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday and was ordered held in custody. He did not make an application for bail and did not enter a plea to one count of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
Prosecutors said he was arrested in New York on Friday. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
Bout, an international arms dealer dubbed the "Merchant of Death," and Smulian conspired to sell the FARC weapons that included surface-to-air missile systems and armor-piercing rocket launchers, between November 2007 and last month, U.S. authorities charged.
The U.S. is seeking Bout's extradition from Thailand, where he was arrested last week in a U.S. sting operation.
Smulian's next hearing will be held March 24.
The FARC are fighting a 4-decade-old insurgency against the Colombian government and are designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.