Big-Time Arms Dealer Nabbed

(Madrid, Spain) International weapons trafficker Monzer al-Kassar was arrested Thursday evening by Spanish police in Madrid. Earlier in the day, an indictment was unsealed charging Kassar with conspiring to sell arms to rebels in Colombia.

The indictment resulted from illegal actions by Kassar after he was caught in a sting operation crafted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Good.

Kassar has been a particularly nasty player in the mix of terrorists, despots and criminals threatening U.S. interests and American citizens. He provided everything from Saturday night specials to surface-to-air missiles.

In Romania, co-conspirators Tareq Mousa al-Ghazi and Luis Felipe Morena-Godoy were also arrested in the operation. The three were indicted on four separate conspiracy counts "including the supplying of material support to a foreign terrorist group; conspiring to kill U.S. nationals, officials and employees; and conspiracy to acquire an antiaircraft missile."

Companion post at The Jawa Report.