A suspicious deal… A Colombian cocaine in exchange for weapons from the ousted Assad regime!
A newly issued indictment in a US federal court reveals the involvement of the ousted Assad regime in a complex international criminal network involving drug gangs and armed organizations from several countries.
According to legal documents, this network is active in smuggling hundreds of kilograms of cocaine hidden inside fruit containers to the port of Latakia in Syria, in exchange for receiving advanced weapons from the arsenal of the Assad regime.
The investigations, conducted in the Eastern District of Virginia, involve a network stretching from Colombia and Mexico to Lebanon, Syria, Kenya, and the United States.
The operation involves Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN), a group known for its cocaine production and shipments to the Middle East in exchange for weapons supplied by Russia and Iran to the former Syrian regime.
At the heart of this network stands Antoine Qassis, a Lebanese national closely linked to the Assad regime’s inner circle.
He was arrested in Kenya last month and extradited to the United States, where he faces charges of terrorism and conspiracy to traffic drugs in support of a foreign terrorist organization.
Investigations revealed that Qassis and his accomplices, Alirio Rafael Quintero and Wissam Najib Kharfan, hatched a plan last spring to ship cocaine to Syria, where Qassis would distribute it in the Middle East.
In exchange, Qassis would provide weapons to the National Liberation Army in Colombia through his Syrian contacts.
In Colombia, Quintero and Kharfan were responsible for money laundering and arranging the arms shipments.
Despite the fall of the Assad regime last December, Qassis retained access to the regime’s weapons depots.
He traveled to Kenya to meet with a weapons inspector from the National Liberation Army, where he signed a contract to ship a container rigged with fruit, but which contained 500 kilograms of cocaine.
The charges revealed that Quintero managed multi-million-dollar transactions for the Sinaloa Cartel and the National Liberation Army (ELN), transferring funds via cryptocurrency to sheep, who in turn converted them into cash, and paying pilots in Guinea and Morocco who participated in the smuggling operations.
Founded in the 1960s, the National Liberation Army (ELN) is the largest rebel group waging a guerrilla war in Colombia, carrying out kidnappings, bombings, and violence against civilians.
Northeastern Colombia is currently experiencing an escalation of the conflict, displacing thousands of people and increasing tensions with Venezuela.
