HOWZAT

The company, which is also understood to work with several operators including Jet Line, was named in a UN Security Council report in April 2003 as being involved in illegal smuggling or attempted smuggling of missile launchers, grenades, and automatic rifles from Serbia to Liberia.

The two firms were hired by DfID through Air Charter Service (ACS), based in Kingston, Surrey. Like DfID, ACS said this weekend it had stopped doing business with the airlines when it was informed that they allegedly had links with Bout.

Aerocom, which was accused in the UN report of illegally flying land mines to Africa, was used by the Halo Trust, a British charity which clears mines. The charity used Aerocom to fly de-mining equipment from Prestwick, near Glasgow, to Angola in February 2003 in an operation funded by DfID.

The airline was again used on April 28 this year by Oxfam to airlift relief supplies from Manston to Sudan.

There is no evidence that the charities, DfID or ACS knew of any connection between the airlines and Bout at the time of the flights. Oxfam has since tightened its monitoring processes. A spokeswoman for DfID said: “Neither we nor our broker were aware of any allegations of wrongdoing against the

(companies), which we obviously used in good faith.”

Valentin Podarilov, the director-general of Aerocom, said: “Rubbish . . . we have nothing to do with any Victor Bout.”

In July, the US Treasury placed Bout on its blacklist of “specially designated nationals”, freezing any of his private assets under American jurisdiction and banning US companies from doing business with him in person. His companies were not blacklisted, allowing them to continue trading.

The international arrest warrant for Bout was issued by Belgian authorities in February 2002. Despite this, Bout continues to live in Moscow, where he carries on his business.

Chris Yates, an aviation analyst for Jane’s, the defence information group, and an expert on Bout, said: “This man seems to get away with anything. He has a high degree of protection at high level.”

In 2002, Peter Hain, then the minister for Africa, called Bout “a merchant of death” who “must be put out of business”.

Wendy Hall, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, the Texas-based parent company of KBR, said its British subsidiary had hired an air freight company which had sub-contracted the work to another company linked to Bout. Hall said KBR would have terminated the contract had it known Bout’s company was involved.

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