A Croatian arms dealer is suspected of smuggling thousands of Kalashnikov weapons to Iraq.

The owner of Scout company, Ivan Peranac, is believed to have been a partner of Brit Gary Hyde who was recently arrested in the United States on the same suspicions.

According to the British media, Hyde had smuggled the surplus of weapons from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) to Iraq with the help of his partners, German Karl Kleber and Peranac.

Hyde had specialized in the trade of Kalashnikov weapons, and had allegedly collaborated with Peranac who had good connections at the Ministry of Defence, of one of BH's governing entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. More specifically, Peranec had access to thousands of weapons sold on the black market.

Amnesty International had marked out Scout for its connections with Iraq in 2006. According to an AI report, Peranec was a go-between the Federation's Ministry of Defence and numerous firms that were delivering weapons to Iraq from July 31 2004 until June 30 2005. The deals were done with the permission of the United States Ministry of Defense. The weapons were transported through Ploce port and Tuzla airport, both of which were under the control of the American military.

The German police opened an investigation against Kleber in 2008, linking him to Peranec.

According to Amnesty International, the trade took place under the patronage of the American government that wanted the weapons for the Iraqi military. It is not clear whether the armament arrived to its intended destination, the daily Jutarnji List writes.

Peranec is also mentioned in a British Parliament investigation looking into Great Britain's role in the export of weapons to Iraq through Croatia. The investigation started in 2007 determined that the British company PMS 2005 has bought 40,000 Kalashnikovs in BH and sold them to the Iraqi Ministry of Defence. PMS bought and transported the weapons through Peranec's company Scout, the daily writes.