Brazilian police arrest fugitive US has linked to Hezbollah
SAO PAULO -- Brazilian federal police have arrested a fugitive accused of belonging to Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and of being a key financier of terrorism.
Police said in statement that they took Assad Ahmad Barakat into custody in the border city of Foz de Iguacu on Friday. They were acting on an arrest order from Paraguay that was seeking Barakat on allegations of false representation.
In 2004, the US Treasury Department accused Bakarat of serving as a treasurer for Hezbollah and ordered American banks to freeze any of his assets found in the United States. The US government considers the Lebanese militia to be a terrorist organization. At the time, Bakarat was serving time in a Paraguayan prison for tax evasion.
