Devil's breath | The Gas Man Ep 6

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Tortoise.

We have here Carnival, you know.

There's something I didn't tell you about Peter Valisczak.

It's not

sacrificed and not ordained.

Back when we first went to meet him in Siegberg and he came out of his house to greet us.

I'm only doing for you.

Oh, I see, okay.

So it's kind of a fancy dress.

I must.

He was wearing bright orange monks robes over the top of his tracksuit.

He said he'd put them on, especially for us.

And this is what's only for you.

Up the stairs, in his office, the room was hazy.

covered in a stifling cloud of incense.

And he had a YouTube video set up, playing from his computer.

Eventually, Claudia, who's producing this series, had to ask him to turn it off so we could hear each other.

And actually, that's where my interview with Peter Valisczek started, with his conversion to a new religion.

Maybe we can start.

When did your interest in Buddhism begin?

This was

one year, one and a half year ago, because my

wife kicked me out,

and then I said, what shall I do?

Yeah, I have some

Buddhist monks who are German.

Then I said, perhaps it's something for me and then I was reading the book.

He tells me he's been accepted as a trainee monk.

And that means normally he wears white robes, not the orange fancy dress shop ones he's wearing now.

He talks me through the little Buddha statues that clutter his desk.

This is this is

most important.

This is a green Buddha.

This is in

the temple where the

king is.

I can't help but notice there are other religious symbols in the room too.

Can I ask you?

I see above your desk you have many Orthodox icons.

This is a very famous one.

He's pointing to a gilded image of a very stern-looking Jesus.

He's looking always

angry to me when I'm looking to

Buddhist.

No,

he's looking angry when I'm looking to porno.

He leans into the mic to tell me that Jesus is angry with him, not because he's a Buddhist, but because he's been watching porn.

When I probe a bit about how his newfound faith fits in with the rest of his life, his lucrative chemical sales to Iran and his trade with other sanctioned countries, it doesn't go down well.

What past?

What I have past?

I'm Buddhist now.

I'm not interesting in the past.

I can't help wondering how much he's told the monks.

And what about when you go to the Buddhist temple with your ordination?

Yeah.

Do they ask you to talk at all about your past and things that you've done in the past and whether you've been okay?

In yeah, this is a sign that you have not an idea from Buddhism because in Buddhism there is no past.

It's a repeated refrain throughout the interview that whatever he might have been involved in before, it doesn't matter now because his past doesn't exist.

It's quite the pivot and a convenient one at that.

So I have to admit that at first, when he tells me he's going to be travelling to Thailand in a few days to study as a monk, I miss the real significance of what he's saying.

I dismiss it as a distraction.

It's only when I'm back in London that I remember something he said.

It's still open the warrant.

Really?

Yes.

I searched.

In America, it's one

criminal till dead criminal.

And Claudia and I finally connect the dots.

The last time he was arrested for travel was more than 10 years ago, but he was arrested.

Been arrested twice.

Yeah.

What's different about this trip to Thailand is that Thailand has an extradition treaty.

That means if the US asked them to, the authorities in Bangkok could put him on a plane to face justice back in America.

When we realize the stakes, we try and work out what flight Peter Valisek's on.

So that's one from Frankfurt that left a couple of hours ago from Germany

and is currently on flight.

It's currently, let's see where it is.

It's currently right over Iran.

Is it?

Yeah.

That's a bit of irony in that one.

And figure out what might happen to him when he lands.

We have have no way of knowing whether the Thai authorities will bother with an old man.

I wonder how we can find out if he's picked up.

I start to wonder: in turning to a religion he believes absolves him entirely of his past, could he actually be inadvertently walking himself right back into custody?

I'm Chloe Hajimathay.

From Tortoise, this is The Gas Man.

Episode 6, Devil's Breath.

Hey, what's up?

It's Marla Lopez.

Back to school.

It's an exciting time, but it can also be overwhelming, and kids may feel isolated, a vulnerability that human traffickers can exploit.

Human trafficking doesn't always look like what you expect.

Everyday moments can become opportunities for someone with bad intentions, whether you're a parent, teacher, coach, or neighbor, check in, ask questions, stay connected.

Blue Campaign is a national awareness initiative that provides resources to help recognize suspected instances of human trafficking.

Learn the signs and how to report at dhs.gov/slash blue campaign.

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Oh wow, so this is the temple.

God, it's gorgeous.

It's very ornate with kind of gilded gold and red ceiling, lots of flourishes.

There's dragons or when I set out trying to understand Peter Valischek's story, I knew it might take me around the world, but I did not expect to end up in a Thai Buddhist temple in the leafy London suburb of Wimbledon.

So there's a load of monks down there in the garden wearing orange robes.

Oh it looks like they're preparing.

They're wiping down tables.

I'm here because maybe Peter Valisek's right.

Maybe I just don't know enough about Buddhism to understand his new approach to life.

Can he really expect to live out the rest of his days in Thailand without ever having to engage with his past?

Or is the gas man just playing another one of his games?

Oh that's him.

The guy there in the

orange robe.

Hello, are you Dr.

Lau?

Yes I am, yes.

Hi, I'm Chloe from

Chloe.

Okay, nice to meet you.

Really good to meet you.

So I've come to speak with the abbot in charge here.

He's a slender man with a shaved head and glasses, and his orange robe is the real deal.

Okay, this can't go inside the house.

Thank you.

And there's someone else that Dr.

Lau's invited to join us.

Robert.

Panyabashiro, then his name.

But you called him Venerable Bob.

Yeah, well, we're all venerable one way or another.

Like Peter Valischek, Venerable Bob is also in his 80s and came to Buddhism later in life.

I learned a date at 68 to 72.

He's unusual, it seems.

Dr.

Lau tells me they don't often admit older people as trainee monks.

So, how old were you when you were all day?

13.

13.

You were a child.

I became a monk at 8 or 20 after seven years training as a Buddhist novice.

That's normal.

That's normal of our tradition.

That's very long.

Yes.

You have to become a genuine practice.

You have to be real.

You have to be really want to be, not just for the opportunity.

I tell them about Peter Valaschek, his arrest, his current life in Germany, and his future trip to Thailand.

I can't tell them much about the monastery he's planning to visit.

He told us he was planning on staying there for a few months, maybe even longer, and that he's been in touch with the head monk for a while.

I'd love to know how he's presented himself and what he's told them about how he's made his money.

But there are thousands of temples in Thailand that accept foreigners, so I can only share what Peter Valischek's told me.

I think it's fair to say Dr.

Lau and Venerable Bob are a little surprised and a bit suspicious that he's even been taken on as a trainee.

80-year-olds are not normally accepted for many reasons.

One of them will be, this person is going to be ill.

It's going to be a drain on our resources continuously.

Is he doing this on purpose?

Is this as a cheap, you know, whatever?

Looking for the place, for someone to look after you because you are not well.

So they have to check everything if you're capable to become a monk.

It takes years of dedication, they tell me.

Thousands of hours spent in silent meditation and adherence to hundreds of rules, including canons or precepts for how to live.

It's not just a couple of hours doing a GCSE or three hours doing a A-level.

It's rather more difficult than that.

In the morning, you take five precepts, yeah?

In the five-precept, number five.

These precepts include refraining from using harsh or harmful speech, from harming any living being, and from drink or drugs.

It's something I talked about with Peter Walasczek back when I was in Germany, although his take seemed a little different.

Because Abbot,

this is the first man in the monastery, said two things

you should not do.

Drinking alcohol,

then I was discussing with him because he's one or two beer.

No problem.

Okay.

You're also supposed to remain celibate.

Again, that didn't seem too high on his priority list.

In fact, he told me he had offered to take the abbot at his monastery Viagra pills.

He said,

what is a blue tablet?

I said, you're

helping you a little bit.

And he said, oh, you must, when you come, you must bring me one or two packages.

I said, you're an abbot, you should not do it.

No, I'm not for me.

It's only for my monks.

I said, okay.

It does sound like Peter Valischek has managed to find himself a pretty relaxed abbot.

Doctor Lau and Venerable Bob say this is the type of thing you see sometimes.

People who go to a monastery in Thailand do their precepts in the morning and party at night.

This is life wherever you go.

People are like that.

Like a lip service.

You know you go you're not real.

That's right, for sure.

That's what they say.

You do anyway, you're the ego, isn't it?

At first, I have to say I thought Peter Valischek's conversion might be a sign of a guilty conscience.

But when I pushed him on whether he had any regrets, he told me again and again that his conscience was totally clear.

My soul is white, he said.

Do you worry about her?

No.

No.

What have I done?

Bad things.

Everybody has things in their life they regret or...

I didn't kill my wife.

Therefore, I have not done any bad things.

It's not a very high bar he set himself.

In any case, he seems to think his conversion to Buddhism absolves him of any past transgressions.

And someone who's 81 telling you what he's told you obviously really either understands it so thoroughly that he can manipulate it or he's jumped to a conclusion.

And obviously he's determinedly interpreted meaningfulness and the moment, living in the moment, in a way which is perverse.

Totally perverse.

If he's got this far, he can't be a fool.

If he's evaded the authorities, he can't be a fool.

And then I'm going to be a monk and the

world has no past.

Yeah, right, okay.

The question is, whether he'll manage to keep evading the authorities when he lands in Thailand.

For what it's worth, I don't think Peter Valicek's a fool.

Quite the opposite.

I think he's a smooth operator.

Someone who's managed to wriggle out from the grasp of law enforcement in several different countries and so far come out pretty much unscathed.

And maybe you're thinking, what's the big deal?

He's just one man and this was decades ago.

Does it really matter if he never takes responsibility for what he did or pays for his crimes?

And to that my answer is yes, I think it really does.

Because if people like Peter Valaschek aren't held to account, if someone can get rich selling lethal chemicals without any idea or control over how they'll be used, then what's to stop others?

Have you ever had any threats?

To you?

Several times.

Several times.

Several times.

You know, none of us

feel a

safe, comfortable life here in Europe.

Cambiz Ghaffouri is an exile from Iran.

Back home, he was studying to be a veterinarian and then a pharmacist.

But as a student, he was caught protesting and was forced to leave the country.

These days, he's a journalist living in Finland.

Iran makes journalists out of its citizens.

Makes journalists out of veterinarians.

As a pharmacist and a journalist, Cambiz Ghaffouri is in a unique unique position when it comes to reporting on chemical weapons.

And bizarrely, his incomplete studies as a vet have also come in useful for one story in particular.

We came to know that a department of Imam Hussein

University bought a medicine called medatomidine.

It's a sedative, you know.

In veterinary medicine, we use it as a pre-anesthesia agent.

For like, for like cats and dogs?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And bigger animals.

No big deal.

Only the university didn't offer any kind of veterinary or medical course, and it's run by the Iranian state.

Kambirz Ghafouri says he watched the anesthetic, also known by the brand name Dometor, travel from Finland to China before it ended up in Iran, that way avoiding EU sanctions.

So a middle person, a Chinese person, bought dometers and then sold it to Iranians.

You know, they want to be hidden.

But Iranian regime, they know very well how to transfer millions.

They have a network of companies under several names.

That's what's going on.

It's the same strategy Peter Valisek used in the 80s when he pretended his chemicals were heading to non-sanctioned countries before sending them on to Iran.

Last year, academic papers from that university in Tehran that Khanbiz Garfuri was monitoring were leaked online by hackers.

The papers outlined how this anaesthetic, domitor, could be used to subdue large numbers of people.

These kinds of weapons are often referred to as incapacitants, because rather than kill their targets, they're meant to put them to sleep.

It doesn't sound so bad, right?

Except those leaked papers refer to the only time we know of when incapacitants have been weaponised.

That was more than 20 years ago, when terrorists in Moscow took almost a thousand people hostage in a theater,

Russian special forces filled the auditorium with this kind of sleep gas to disarm the attackers.

But more than 130 hostages also died in the process.

They just never woke up.

So, this stuff can be deadly.

I would say that the norm against using chemical weapons is right now under stress.

We've seen the Syrian government, we've seen Russia using chemical weapons.

And our concern about this is now also extended to the Iranians, not in terms of their actual use at this time, but in terms of their chemical weapons program.

Nicole Champagne is the U.S.

Ambassador to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the OPCW.

It's a global body, a kind of United Nations, through which most of the world's countries have joined forces to try to end the development and use of chemical weapons.

It was after Iran joined the OPCW in the late 90s that the regime admitted for the first time that it did have a chemical weapons program,

but it said the program stopped when the war with Iraq ended in the late 80s.

Except Iran maintains a chemical weapons program that includes the pursuit of certain pharmaceutical-based agents as part of a broader category of incapacitating agents for offensive purposes.

It's a particularly big deal for Iran to be accused of still actively making these kinds of weapons because, as the number one victim of chemical attacks in the world, it's been one of the loudest voices calling for their abolition.

The active participation of the Islamic Republic of Iran formulating the Convention was rooted in a very bitter experience in our recent history as main victim of chemical weapons.

They're still trying to pretend as if that is not happening.

So they actually don't want to be seen as being in violation of the chemical weapons convention.

I asked an Iran specialist how likely he thought it was that the regime would actually use these kinds of weapons.

Only if they feel cornered, he told me.

Given the heightened tensions in the Middle East, I think now might be a good time to start paying more attention to Iran's chemical program.

So, if the United States mission to the OPCW believes they have evidence of Iran's new chemical weapons program,

what are they doing about it?

Well, not much.

The OPCW isn't a police force.

States have the right to call for a challenge inspection of another member state.

But in the organisation's 27-year history, no one's ever invoked this.

Even if it were to happen, the challenge state would have lots of notice before any inspection was carried out.

Plenty of time to wipe the surfaces clean.

We tried contacting the Iranian mission to the OPCW and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran, but neither of them responded.

The Iranian regime maintains that it has a clear position against weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons.

And of course, there are sanctions in place to try to prevent Iran from acquiring harmful substances.

There are also middlemen willing to bypass them.

Companies and individuals who may be sympathetic to the Iranian cause or else just happy to do business and cash the check, no questions asked.

Individuals like that are extremely dangerous, are extremely dangerous.

It is the transfer of precursors, the transfer of chemical agents, chemical warfare agents themselves, that put us all in danger.

So, when there are individuals that seek to circumvent the laws of various countries in order to get those types of agents into the hands of countries that have chemical weapons programs, programs, they're placing many, many people at risk.

So it is a very dangerous activity.

Yesterday, I had a doctor calling me back and he said, the x-rays show something of your lung again.

It's always my lung that shows something.

Peter Valasczak, on his way to Thailand, may seem keen to shed his past.

But that's not an option for Farah Shafi, the Kurdish-Iranian woman I've been speaking to.

Her history is written into her body.

Nearly 40 years after she was poisoned by mustard gas, it's now killing her.

Since yesterday, I am a little bit scared about that too, to see what was that black spot that they found my left lung, they said.

In the Interpol Wanted Notice for Peter Valisek, they call mustard gas the devil's breath, one of the most terrible weapons ever devised.

When I asked him about his role as a middleman, sending chemicals to Iran that could be used to make mustard gas, he's tried to justify it by saying he was selling to the underdogs, that he saw the damage that was being done by Iraq to people like Farah Shafi, and that he'd do it again if it helped Iran fight back.

When I tell her that, she's horrified.

So basically he gave Iran the same power to do the same dirty thing that Saddam did.

Cleaning dirt with dirt.

I do not want anyone else, even my enemies, to be exposed to what I have been.

And for the German guy to go and give the same to the other country, did he really think that it would be only against Saddam and no innocent people would be caught between that?

No kids, no women.

Who would guarantee that to them?

I don't want even the armies to be exposed to that.

It should not be used, period.

I asked her what she'd say to Peter Valischek and any other middlemen involved in sales like this if she had the chance.

I mean, are you kidding me?

That's what I want to tell them.

Look what you've done to me.

Look what you have done to my son.

I hope before you die,

you would live at least one year of the life that I have been for the past 37 years.

One year.

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I'm the founder of Olive in June.

And can I tell you the one thing that always makes my day better?

A fresh manicure.

But who has the time or the money to go to the salon every week?

That's why we created the Olive in June gel mani system.

It gives you that same Mani that you get at a salon for so much less.

It comes with everything you need, a pro-level lamp, salon grade tools, or damage-free gel polish that lasts up to 21 days.

All you do is prep, paint, cure, and you're good to go.

And the best part, it's super easy and so affordable.

Each mani breaks down to $2.

So let's skip that $80 salon appointment and get the salon quality look at home for so much less and on your schedule.

Head to oliveinjune.com slash DIYgel20 and use code DIYgel20 for 20% off your first gelmani system.

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When Peter Valicek's plane lands in Bangkok, it's the middle of the night here in London.

The next morning, I scour the papers.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm expecting.

I suppose I wondered whether his entry into the country would trigger some kind of alarm.

It wouldn't be the first time he's travelled abroad and accidentally flagged his fugitive status to the local authorities.

Only that day, and the next, and the one after that, there's no news.

Not from law enforcement or from Peter Valaschek.

It feels like the trail's gone cold.

Okay, can you hear me now?

Yes, I can hear you.

When I started working on this story and first called Dennis Bass out of the blue last year, he was really taken aback.

It had been years since anyone had asked him about the Valicek case, and he was cautious, suspicious even.

It took quite a bit of convincing before he'd agreed to talk to me.

The media, back in the days when I was in law enforcement,

I wasn't real crazy about.

But in the case of Peter Walicek, I think it's good because he would like everyone to forget that he's a criminal and that he's done these things.

And by them being brought out in the media, people being reminded, it's good because it shows people today what kind of person he is and the things that he's done.

And I think that's, it's better than nothing, in my opinion.

When I tell him about Peter Valischek's whole Buddhist conversion thing, he gives me a typical bass response.

I just think he's a wacko.

He's a nutcase.

And so, you know,

he does crazy things.

What I want to know is, what kind of ending would satisfy him now after so many years?

What would closure look like for Special Agent Dennis Bass?

Closure for me would be what I've wanted since the very beginning, for him to serve his time for the crime and crimes that he committed.

He's 81, 82 now.

Is it really worth arresting and extraditing him?

To me, yes.

And truthfully, if if he was put in jail today and died in jail, that's his fault.

He could have served his time 30 years ago and this would have been so far behind him.

But he decided otherwise.

He decided to escape and not pay the price for the crimes that he committed.

Peter Valaszczek has always known he's a wanted man.

Do you think they still want to arrest you now you're 18?

Yes, yes, I know it.

How?

Because I have a lawyer there and he said if you have a warrant from America, then the warrant is still your dead.

But when I spoke to him back in Germany, he seemed pretty convinced that he'd only be arrested if he set foot in America and he wasn't likely to fall for that one a second time.

I have to be honest and say, even up until pretty recently, I thought he was being reckless by travelling to a country with an extradition agreement.

But in the end, it looks like Peter Valisek was right.

Because eventually, after countless unanswered calls to his mobile, Oh, I was hoping to speak to Mr.

Peter Valiszczek.

I'm Chloe from London.

I make a last-ditch attempt on a different number.

Oh, hello!

How are you?

I didn't realise you were in Germany.

Did you...

did you finish in Thailand?

Are you going back?

He's back home in his stuffy office in Germany.

No sign that he had any problems or raised any red flags with the Thai authorities.

I can't even find out from the US authorities whether his case is still open.

Dennis Bass insists he's out of the loop.

He's busy at the country club these days.

I know he still harbours hopes of seeing Peter Valisek behind bars, but I'm starting to think it's the fantasy of a retired special agent rather than anything rooted in reality.

He had Peter Valiszczek in custody three times, and three times the gas man slipped through his fingers.

I think what he's left holding on to is that he made Peter Valischek's life pretty uncomfortable over the years.

He's looked over his shoulder since the day he fled the United States.

I think there's nights that it bothered him.

He was a real high roller.

He used to travel all over, and suddenly he'd go to places and the police would lock him up in those places.

And I hope, you know, someday he pays the price, whether Buddha does it for him or somebody else.

I can't shake the feeling that that there must be lots of people like Peter Valicek out there.

People who made their money facilitating wars or helping to arm brutal regimes, whether they know it or not.

It could be anyone.

The harmless looking old woman sitting next to me on the plane, or the nicely dressed gentleman in the cafe at the table across from me.

Even the wise looking Buddhist leading a meditation session.

So many more middlemen and women who are doing similar things today.

After all, there are plenty of conflicts that need feeding for them to get rich from,

including Iran's apparently flourishing chemical weapons program.

Because in the end, uncomfortable as it might be, Peter Valaschek has got away with it.

And the message that sends all those other enablers is, go for it.

Do you worry like you do business with the Iranian government and the Chinese government and the North Korean government?

There have been a lot of reports about human rights abuses.

We were coming to the end of the interview and actually about to pack up, but just before we left, I had to push him on it.

Forget this fucking human rights.

I hate it.

I hate.

I hate this.

this.

There is no human rights.

Thousands of years, no human rights.

It's not what I expected.

I thought he'd argue that he didn't violate anyone's human rights.

Not that there weren't any in the first place.

Why should I be afraid when I'm sending they also need something against headache?

We are are not sending atomic bombs there.

And human rights, when I hear this, these are the

stupid Western thinking.

Human rights.

But what is it about that that makes you so angry?

It makes me not angry, but the word human rights, for me, it's nothing.

Later, over the phone, and actually the last time I speak to Peter Valischek, he'll adapt one of his favourite phrases and tell me he thinks a good journalist is a dead journalist.

But before that, back when I'm sitting in his office in Germany, I just can't help myself.

I have to give it one more go before I leave the gas man for good.

One final time.

Okay, but what about them?

My God,

please shut up about this.

Forget this fucking story with Iran and Iraq.

Are you an agent from US?

No, I'm from London.

I'm a journalist.

Because nobody has asked me in the last 30 years about this.

And so always.

And what is with the Iraqis and what is with the Iranians?

Where you on the battle battle and

saw the dead beaten, then you should not ask such stupid questions.

So,

and please.

Okay, thank you very much.

I should believe my wife said, Don't

give an interview.

Thank you for listening to The Gas Man.

It's reported by Chloe Hajimathayu and produced by me, Claudia Williams.

It's written by both of us.

Gary Marshall is the narrative editor, and Jasper Corbett is the editor.

The sound design is by Hanna Varum.

Original theme music by Tom Kinsella.

With additional production in this episode by Amy Harper.

With thanks to Mike Chamberlain, Dan Casetta, Martin Hahn, Melisha Gangali, Florian Flader, and Matt Russell.

If you enjoyed The Gas Man, our next investigation, Dangerous Memories, is out soon.

It's a story about what we risk when we let someone else into our mind and into our memory.

To get ad-free and early access to all episodes of Dangerous Memories and the rest of Tortoise's podcasts, subscribe to Tortoise Plus on Apple Podcasts or by becoming a Tortoise member.

While you're waiting, you can hear more from Tortoise's award-winning newsroom by searching for Tortoise wherever you get your podcasts.

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