Spain to extradite Syria arms dealer suspect to US
Source: Reuters
MADRID, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Spain's High Court on Friday agreed to a U.S. request to extradite a suspected Syrian weapons dealer accused of planning to supply arms to a Colombian rebel group. Monzer al-Kassar was arrested in Madrid in June on charges of conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). U.S. authorities accuse Kassar of agreeing to provide arms to the FARC to protect a cocaine-trafficking business and attack U.S. interests in the South American country. A long-time Spanish resident known as the "Prince of Marbella" for his outlandish lifestyle, Kassar has sold weapons to the Palestine Liberation Front, Nicaragua, Bosnia, Croatia, Iran, Iraq and Somalia since the 1970s, the U.S. Embassy in Madrid said. In 1995, Kassar was acquitted by Spain's high court of a charge of piracy in connection with the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro by Palestinian guerrillas.
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