UPDATE #2: Via the Marmot comes this Times Online report that says the plane was scheduled to refuel in Sri Lanka and end its flight in Pakistan.  The article also has an image gallery from the bust of this plane:

The Ilyushin-76 cargo plane was cordoned off on the tarmac at Bangkok’s Don Muang airport.

The plane was carrying 40 tonnes of heavy weapons from Pyongyang in North Korea.

The detained crew members from the plane.

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UPDATE #1: According to this AP report the weapons were believed to either be going to Sri Lanka or Pakistan.  I don’t see why these weapons would be going to Sri Lanka when the Tamil Tigers have been for the most part defeated by the Sri Lankan government.  That leaves Pakistan, which makes me wonder why the Pakistani government would need to buy North Korean arms?  Could it be that these arms were meant to go to the Taliban to kill US soldiers with?

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So how many months has it been since President Bush removed North Korea from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list?:

Thailand Saturday detained five men after they made an emergency landing in Bangkok with a cargo plane from North Korea full of heavy weapons, ministers and officials said.The crew requested to land for refuelling at Don Mueang airport, where inspectors discovered a haul of weaponry including firearms and missiles, said deputy prime minister Suthep Thaungsuban.

“They declared that the goods on board the flight were oil drilling equipment but when we examined we found it was all weaponry,” Suthep, who is also in charge of national security, told reporters.

Police said four of the men are from Kazakhstan and one is from Belarus.

“There were a lot of weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and other war weapons,” said Lieutenant General Thangai Prasajaksattru, commander of Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau.

Air Force spokesman Captain Montol Suchookorn and special branch police said the chartered plane originated in North Korea’s capital Pyongyang.

“According to my information, the flight originated from North Korea. It was a cargo flight that requested to land at the civilian side of the airport,” Montol said, adding that the air force was guarding the aircraft.

Local media reported that the plane was carrying 40 tonnes of weaponry and was believed to be registered in Georgia.  [AFP]

The report doesn’t say where the weapons were heading but I would assume probably to Iran considering the prior busts of North Korean arms going to Iran, which have ultimately been linked to terrorist groups.  Also keep in mind that North Korea has been linked to smuggling weapons to arm MILF terrorists in the Philippines as well.  According to the article the US tipped off the Thai authorities to the arms shipment.

As I have mentioned often before, the Bush administration’s North Korea policy was a failure, but I wonder if the Obama administration has the will to play hardball with the North Koreans and put them back on the State Sponsors of Terrorism List?  I doubt it and I suppose we will just continue to see these cat and mouse games in regards to intercepting North Korean weapons being sent to terrorist groups.