BANGKOK (Reuters) – The crew of a plane carrying 35 tonnes of missile parts and other illegal weapons from North Korea may be released rather than face charges in Thailand where they were arrested, a senior Thai official said on Wednesday.

Thailand was not opposed to deporting the five-man crew as requested by their home countries, Kazakhstan and Belarus, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban told Reuters, adding that the Thai attorney general’s office would make a final decision.

The case has been shrouded in secrecy since the plane and the weapons were impounded and its crew arrested at Bangkok’s second-biggest airport on Dec. 11.

The shipment was in breach of a U.N. Security Council resolution introduced last June banning weapons sales by communist North Korea in response to its nuclear and long-range missile tests.

Source: Reuters