Hezbollah-Linked Lebanese Businessman Was Just Arrested In The U.S.
The US Department of Justice has announced that authorities
in the Republic of Cape Verde have arrested Alexei Saab, a Colombian-Lebanese
businessman accused by the United States of money laundering.
Justice Department spokesperson Nicole Navas-Oxman said in a
statement that Saab had been arrested under an INTERPOL Red Notice issued after
the US indictment, without providing further details.
Saab’s lawyer, Maria Dominguez, confirmed the arrest. The US
prosecution accused Saab of money laundering in connection with a scheme,
conducted between 2011 and 2015, to offer bribes and benefit from the exchange
rate set by the Venezuelan government, and also for his relationship with
Hezbollah.
The arrested businessman and his Italian wife, Camilla
Fabri, are also under investigation in Italy for money laundering.
Alexei is close to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. He
is also the ‘financial right hand’ of Hezbollah.
The businessman is Colombian of Lebanese origins, he also
carries a Venezuelan passport. He won contracts to obtain supplies for the food
subsidy program run by the Maduro government.
Washington also imposed sanctions on the food deals, which
US officials have described as a fraud aimed at enriching Saab and Maduro.
They accused him and his business partner Alvaro Boledo of
laundering money and transporting $350 million outside Venezuela, either to the
United States or across the country to foreign accounts.
Saab has had connections with Hezbollah for the past 20
years. He is considered Hezbollah’s first man in South America.
Also known as Ali Hassan Saab, Alexei began his career with
Hezbollah in 1996, to implement at that time the first monitoring operation
inside Lebanon in a southern region.
He then moved in 1999 to the stage of training in various
types of firearms, according to a ministry at the American Justice.
He became a member of the Hezbollah unit responsible for
external operations in 2000. That’s when he received extensive training in the
field of weapons and military tactics, including how to make bombs and other
explosive devices.
That same year Saab entered The United States using a Lebanese
passport and received his American citizenship in 2008.
Despite his moving to live in America, he remained a member
of Hezbollah’s “external security” 910 organization and worked to monitor
dozens of strategic sites in New York City.
These include the United Nations headquarters, the Statue Of
Liberty, Times Square, local airports and bridges, etc. He provided details,
information, and photographs of these sites to the organization.
According to LBC, Saab faces several charges that may get
him behind bars for decades, primarily including providing material support to
a foreign terrorist organization.
Noting that the United States of America has placed
Hezbollah on the list of terrorists since 1997.
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