Hundreds of kilograms of cocaine were reportedly set to arrive at a Syrian port concealed in a shipping container that was claimed to be filled with fruit. In exchange for the drugs, weapons from the arsenal of Syria’s ousted dictator were intended to arm a notorious Latin American criminal organization, with millions of dollars laundered during the process.
This alleged plot was unveiled last week through an unsealed grand jury indictment in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, where one of the key figures made an initial court appearance. The indictment outlines a complex criminal network involving drug cartels, rebel groups, and rogue regimes across four continents.
Antoine Kassis, a Lebanese national named in the indictment and one of three individuals charged in connection with the scheme, appeared in court after being extradited from Kenya. Prosecutors accused the defendants of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy and of conspiring to provide material support to Colombia’s National Liberation Army (E.L.N.).
The case highlights significant international connections and raises concerns within the global community regarding the potential for the military arsenal of Bashar al-Assad, the long-time Syrian dictator who was deposed in December, to fall into the hands of criminals.
According to the indictment, Kassis was a drug trafficker in Lebanon with connections to members of the Assad regime, which has been associated with transforming Syria into a narcostate. The indictment links him to a global money laundering network based in Lebanon that allegedly collaborated with the E.L.N. and had ties to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel.
Prosecutors stated that last spring, Kassis and the alleged money launderers—Alirio Rafael Quintero and Wisam Nagib Kherfan—formed an agreement leveraging his Syrian connections to secure military-grade weapons for the E.L.N., to be financed through cocaine trafficking. Kassis was to distribute the drugs in the Middle East, while Quintero and Kherfan would manage the financial transactions and laundering of proceeds.
The charges stem from activities and transactions that prosecutors assert occurred in multiple countries, including Colombia, Ghana, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Kenya, and the United States, from April until late February. Even after Assad's ousting in December, Kassis reportedly maintained access to weapons previously supplied to the Assad regime by foreign nations, including Russia and Iran.
Kassis is accused of traveling from Lebanon to Kenya to meet with an E.L.N. weapons inspector and signing a contract to import a shipping container that was purportedly filled with fruit from Colombia to the Port of Latakia in Syria. However, prosecutors indicated that the container was actually intended to hold 500 kilograms of cocaine.
The indictment, filed in March based on evidence presented to a grand jury, does not specify the timing of the meeting or how the scheme was detected and disrupted. However, court records indicate that arrest warrants were issued in early February.
Kenyan authorities detained Kassis at a hotel earlier this year, acting on an Interpol notice from U.S. law enforcement and a warrant from a federal court in Virginia. Reports from Kenyan media noted that Kassis was wanted in the U.S. for drug-related offenses and was arrested by narcotics detectives in late February.
Kassis has not been reachable for comment, and no attorney has been identified for him in court documents. His co-conspirators face additional charges related to money laundering, with outstanding warrants issued for their arrest in early February.
Prosecutors allege that Quintero, based in Colombia and Mexico, managed millions of dollars in transactions among the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia for the Sinaloa Cartel and laundered drug proceeds believed to be linked to the E.L.N. He is accused of sending cryptocurrency from the E.L.N. to electronic wallets in the U.S. held by Kherfan, who then converted the assets into cash for the weapons deal, including payments for pilots in Ghana and Morocco involved in transporting the arms and cocaine.
The E.L.N., formed in the 1960s, is the largest remaining Marxist guerrilla organization in Latin America and is considered one of its most powerful criminal groups. This year, it has been engaged in violent conflicts in northeastern Colombia, displacing thousands and escalating tensions with neighboring Venezuela, which some Colombian officials allege is supporting the group.
American prosecutors describe the E.L.N. as being “dedicated to the violent overthrow” of Colombia’s government, engaging in “kidnappings, bombings, and other violent attacks targeting civilians” to further its objectives.