US: 4 arrested for alleged plan to buy weapons for Hezbollah
Plot to buy machine guns for Shiite organization thwarted by undercover operative
A federal grand jury in Pennsylvania indicted four men Tuesday for an alleged plot to support the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah through illegal schemes, including buying the group more than 1,000 machine guns.
The indictment comes just a day after officials in Philadelphia said they disrupted a similar scheme to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and send them to Syria, although in that case, authorities have yet to accuse anyone of trying to help a specific terror group. Hezbollah, a Shiite organization in Lebanon, is on the US list of terror organizations.
The indictment filed Tuesday says two suspects sought to provide roughly 1,200 Colt M4 machine guns to Hezbollah, but their efforts were thwarted by an undercover operative. The plotters allegedly sought to buy the weapons in Philadelphia and ship them to a port in Syria where they eventually were to have been routed to Hezbollah.
The indictment charges eight others with lesser offenses related to schemes to traffic in stolen or counterfeit goods.
In total, authorities say 13 suspects are in custody and 11 are being sought.
Founded in 1982, Hezbollah gained notoriety in the West when it was linked to the kidnapping of Western hostages and a series of bombings against Western targets.
Hezbollah caters mainly to Lebanon's 1.2 million Shiite Muslims, the country's largest single sect.
Hezbollah has grown over the years to run a network of interests— clinics, schools, a TV station and a weekly newspaper. Hezbollah has elected members in the Lebanese parliament.
In the case announced Monday, federal authorities said a separate scheme to transport stolen cell phones, laptops, and video game systems grew into a plot to ship anti-aircraft missiles to Syria.
According to court documents, the chief suspect in that case, who was arrested Saturday, paid $20,000 cash to an undercover operative in July as a deposit on machine guns and shoulder-fired Stinger missiles and traveled to Philadelphia last week to inspect the merchandise.
