Alleged international arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was arrested in Thailand last week, sold his home in SA after he and his family were held up in 1998 and robbed by masked men who took more than $6m in cash.

Considered the most notorious gunrunner of the post-Cold War period, Bout evaded arrest for many years because of a lack of solid evidence linking him to the supply of arms to a number of rebel groups, in Africa and Afghanistan in particular.

Despite Bout's dangerous business, the authors of a book about him say the attack in SA was one of his worst experiences.

Bout was arrested on Thursday in a sting operation by US and Thai police after he allegedly agreed to supply weapons to Colombian rebels.

This was just five days after the Colombian government found the computer of a leader of the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, Raul Reyes, in a camp-site in Ecuador.

Bout's nicknames, "Embargo Buster" and "Merchant of Death", were coined by former British foreign office minister Peter Hain.

After reading a 2003 United Nations (UN) report on Bout's activities, Hain said: "Bout is the leading merchant of death who is the principal conduit for planes and supply routes that take arms, including heavy military equipment, from east Europe, principally Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine, to Liberia and Angola.

"The UN has exposed Bout as the centre of a spider's web of shady arms dealers, diamond brokers and other operatives, sustaining the wars."

The 2005 film, Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage as Yuri Orlov, was partly based on Bout.

Last year, Stephen Braun and Douglas Farah published a book about him titled Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible.

Bout started out in the arms trade after his air force regiment was disbanded during the break-up of the Soviet Union. The end of the Cold War resulted in huge quantities of arms and ammunition being dumped on the private market. Bout owned and operated 60 aircraft and had the capacity to deliver small arms and big weapons systems anywhere in the world.

He moved to Johannesburg in 1997 and formed a joint venture with a South African cargo company, Pietersburg Aviation Services and Systems. One of his aircraft was involved in the rendition of Pakistani Khalid Rashid, who was flown out of SA from the Waterkloof air force base in the middle of the night.

In March 1998, Bout and his wife were playing tennis across the road from his home in Sandhurst when armed men burst into his heavily guarded home using hand grenades to blast open the gate. They knocked Bout's mother-in-law unconscious when she tried to resist, and roughed up Bout when he rushed across to confront them. The robbers fled with the money, but left behind paintings and other expensive items.

Soon afterwards, one of his employees was assaulted and robbed on a Johannesburg street and Bout was shot at while travelling in a car. A few months later Bout sold his house, estimated at the time to be worth $3m.

The Russian believed the robbery was a warning by organised criminal groups that they could get to him any time they wanted.

No one was arrested for the attack. Farah and Braun said at the time the South African police promised a "speedy and prompt investigation, but of course nothing happened".

At the time of the robbery, Bout was operating a company known as AirPass, which had already attracted the attention of the US and South African governments. SA accused Bout's company of breaking UN sanctions by sending trucks and other supplies to Unita-held areas of Angola ­ accusations Bout denied.

Before charges could be brought, however, Bout shifted his operation to Swaziland, but aircraft belonging to AirPass and another company linked to Bout were grounded in 1998 because of incorrect documentation.

Authorities believe that between 1997 and 1998, Bout smuggled weapons worth $14m into Africa alone. Bout seemed to reduce his activities in southern Africa after his attacks in SA, but US authorities believe he simply changed his tactics, making use of a number of subcontractors .

US and Belgian officials had targeted Bout's companies in a wide-ranging money-laundering investigation when he moved to this country. SA refused to prosecute Bout *1, for lack of evidence.

He made it on to the US high priority list after the September 11 2001 attacks, when it emerged that he had allegedly supplied weapons to the Taliban.

In 2002, the Belgian government finally issued an international arrest warrant for Bout, charging him with money- laundering involving more than $300m. But by then, Bout had fled to Russia, which does not allow the extradition of its citizens.

Yesterday, South African authorities were not able to confirm whether SA was taking part in the US-led investigation against Bout.

With acknowledgements to Chantelle Benjamin and Business Day.