Hopes rise for arms dealer

Mr Bleach, of Scarborough, was arrested at Bombay Airport and

subsequently accused of parachuting an arsenal of weapons into remote western Bengal.

The ex-Army man, who had been running a defence business called Aeroserve UK from remote Howdale House on the North York Moors, near Ravenscar, served eight years of a life sentence in jail in Calcutta before being released.

He always maintained that Niels Holck, alias Kim Davy, alias Niels Christian Nielsen, was the real ring leader.

Now the Danish Justice Ministry says it will extradite Holck to India to stand trial after assurances that he will not face the death penalty.

The 49-year-old Dane, wanted by Interpol and Indian authorities since 1995, has lived under several aliases in Denmark since 1996.

He has been arrested and bailed pending the extradition proceedings.

Mr Bleach said yesterday: "I am elated – a huge amount has already come out which more than supports my version of events.

"I was always telling the truth from the beginning, and false evidence was given against me to try to keep me in jail to protect the

identities of the officials who arranged this.

"It damn nearly killed me in the process.

"Holck himself has told Danish TV that he does not believe he would be allowed to stay alive in jail, and he has described how after a couple of years I looked like a Nazi concentration camp victim – which sadly, is not an overstatement."

The extradition is being opposed by Amnesty.