A member of a prominent Hezbollah-linked family has been arrested in Colombia and charged with using the proceeds of his business to finance the Lebanese militant group.
Mahdy Akil Helbawi is designated a backer of terrorism by the US Treasury and has been sanctioned along with his father Amer Mohamed Akil Rada, who is alleged to have carried out a bombing on a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people in July 1994, and uncle Samer Akil Rada.
Mr Akil Helbawi, 37, was detained by police at his house in the city of Cucuta, on the border with Venezuela, and is facing charges of money laundering and the use of false documents, among others.
The Colombian-Lebanese citizen, who prosecutors say is known as ‘The Boss’ and ‘Jonathan’, is accused of exporting charcoal through a front company to evade customs duty and using part of the proceeds to fund Hezbollah.
The group is believed to have a substantial presence in South America, as part of its global business dealings, and is suspected of smuggling cocaine and being involved in the illicit economy of the lawless ‘Tri-Border Area’ between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
The arrest of Mr Akil Helbawi provides a glimpse into the shadowy world of Hezbollah’s extensive business network and the role the Lebanese diaspora plays in it, Emanuele Ottolenghi, a leading authority on the group’s activities in the region, told The National.
Dr Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies in Washington, DC, described Mr Akil Helbawi as a “key figure” in the network. He said the clan “has played an important role in Hezbollah’s activity in Latin America”.
Colombian officials made the arrest "because they likely had actionable intelligence", said Dr Ottolenghi.
"The US designations of Amer, Samer and Mahdy likely strengthened those within the Colombian law enforcement and intel agencies who wanted to take action against Mahdy," he added.
Samer Akil Rada has also been designated a backed of Hezbollah by the US Treasury, which says he is “actively linked to crimes related to illicit drug trafficking and money laundering in various countries in Latin America”.
He was also implicated in the shipment of 500kg of cocaine worth approximately $15 million that was hidden in fruit containers and ultimately seized in El Salvador, the department said.
Prosecutors in Colombia say that police moved to arrest Akil Helbawi based on information provided by the FBI.
They say his front company was set up in 2015 and illegally extracted 2,500 tonnes of charcoal, which was exported from the port of Catagena to countries including Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman and even Israel.
Mr Akil Helbawi is alleged to have laundered about $1.3 million through foreign trade operations, say the prosecutors.
He was pictured being led from his property by officers. Items seized included a laptop and phones.
The US Treasury said his father has also been involved in the export of charcoal from Lebanon to Colombia, with 80 per cent of the proceeds funding Hezbollah.
A report by Aurora Ortega, who worked for US Intelligence and is now an academic at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, alleges Amer Mohamed Akil Rada is using his children to conduct his business activities.
The use of charcoal to disguise cocaine has been widely documented, her report suggests, as the substance turns bricks of the drug black while also helping to mask the smell from sniffer dogs.
Ms Ortega says Amer and Mahdy “may well have used their charcoal companies to illegally smuggle cocaine”, though she warns “that this should not be an automatic conclusion”.
Colombia is “important to Hezbollah facilitators and to Hezbollah because it is an excellent source of revenue, given its status as the largest producer of cocaine in the world”, Dr Ottolenghi said.
“The Lebanese Shia communities there have historic family ties with communities in Venezuela and Panama, an important triangle for trade, financial operations, and the production and movement of illicit goods.”
This year a court in Argentina declared the 1994 bombing of Amia (Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina) a "crime against humanity" that had been planned by Iran and carried out by Hezbollah.
Amer Mohamed Akil Rada is described by the US Treasury as an "one of the operational members" who carried out the attack.
Dr Ottolenghi said given his father and uncle’s alleged activities and “Mahdy’s involvement in companies sanctioned for Hezbollah trafficking and money-laundering operations, it is safe to say the family are very important within the diaspora”.
He said the family are part of the Shiite communities that have “established themselves” in South America: “they’re integrated, they're successful, they're flourishing, they're influential”.
“On the other hand, of the various components of the Lebanese diaspora in Latin America, they're the ones that still retain the strongest connection to their origins.”
