Financier Hezbollah arrested in Brazil

brasilia - The Brazilian police arrested the 51-year-old terror suspect Assad Ahmad Barakat in Foz do Iguaçu, close to the three countries with Paraguay and Argentina. American justice called Barakat one of 'the most influential members' of the militant Lebanese Hezbollah movement. He would have channeled money he had earned with illegal activities to Hezbollah.

The originally Lebanese Barakat, according to the security services in Paraguay, was the main sponsor of a bomb attack on a Jewish institution in Buenos Aires in 1994. This attack resulted in 85 deaths. According to Israel, Hezbollah was behind that terror campaign.

The Brazilian police said that Barakat was arrested following an arrest warrant issued by Paraguay against the man in August. That country suspects him, among other things, of laundering drug money. He would have laundered, among other things, 10 million dollars (8.5 million euros) via a casino.