Arms Dealer Arrested in Spain: Al-Kassar

Monzer al-Kassar, a Syrian arms dealer, has been arrested in Spain on charges he plotted to supply millions of dollars worth of weapons to Colombian rebels.^[1] Al-Kassar was arrested after undercover agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA) came to him looking to buy surface-to-air missile systems, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, thousands of machine guns and millions of rounds of ammunition for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and allegedly al-Kassar agreed to make the sale, however no weapons ever changed hands.^[2]

The indictment alleged that al-Kassar also provided weapons and military equipment to violent factions in Nicaragua, Brazil, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Iran and Iraq; as well as to the revolutionary group FARC. FARC is one of the world's largest suppliers of cocaine; we have previously written about FARC in this blog, these posts can be accessed here.^[3]

Al-Kassar went before a Spanish judge in Madrid on Friday, and while there were no immediate details on extradition proceedings, Spain and the United States have an extradition treaty that applies in such cases.^[4] The U.S. indictment from a New York federal grand jury charges al-Kassar with conspiracy to provide aid and equipment to a terrorist organization, conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and officials, conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles and money laundering.^[5]

Contributing or supplying services to designated terrorist groups (or conspiring to contribute or supply services to these entities), is a violation of regulations issued under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act,^[6] we have previously discussed IEEPA in this blog, here.

Missiles
The threat of surface-to-air missile(SAMs) being used against commercial aviation led Congress to pass the Commercial Aviation MANPADS Defense Act of 2004 [hereinafter MANPADS Act].^[7] Under the MANPADS Act, the United States sentencing guidelines were amended to enhance any sentence by 15 levels if the offense involved "a destructive device that is a portable rocket, a missile, or a device for use in launching a portable rocket or a missile."^[8] There are also sentencing enhancements for the number of SAMs that are involved.^[9] This act could possibly be applied in this al-Kassar's case if it is determined that al-Kassar did in fact, try to sell anti-aircraft missiles.


We have previously discussed money laundering here.

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^[1] Tom Hays, Syrian Arms Dealer Indicted in NYC, Associated Press Newswire,June 8, 2007, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] 50 U.S.C. §§ 1701-07 (2007).
^[7] See P.L. 108-458, Title IV, Subtitle B, § 4026, 118 Stat. 3724. (MANPADS stands for man-portable air defense system, and it refers to any SAM system designed to be man-portable and carried and fired by a single individual. MANPADS Act, § 4026(e)(2)(A).)
^[8] See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2K2.1(b)(3)(A).
^[9] See id. at § 2K2.1(b)(1)(E).