Paraguay extradited to the United States the Brazilian of Lebanese origin Mahmoud Ali Barakat, wanted in that country for his alleged relationship with a money laundering network from drug trafficking and other alleged crimes, the Prosecutor's Office reported in a statement.
Barakat, 40, was transferred from the Tacumbú prison in Asunción to a military zone at the international airport, where he was handed over to US special agents.
His arrest occurred at the end of June in an office in the heart of Asunción, a month after the National Police and the National Anti-Drug Secretariat raided and searched four exchange offices in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay's second largest city.
In that raid, Nader Mohamad Farhat, Barakat's alleged partner, and the former's wife, Taiwanese citizen Wu Pei Yu, were arrested, who was listed as the owner of the Unique exchange house, which was allegedly dedicated to money laundering, according to the statement. of the Prosecutor's Office.
The prosecutor in the case, Marcelo Pecci, announced that a total sum of $1.338.000 was seized in the four exchange offices.
A clear money laundering scheme from crimes linked to drug trafficking. Several consignments were sent to different places," Pecci said then, quoted by the Prosecutor's Office.
That operation was followed by the arrest of Barakat, who a month earlier had received a Paraguayan passport, despite the fact that that nationality was withdrawn in 2003.
However, this October his Paraguayan nationality was withdrawn, the renewal of which was attributed to a "communication failure" between various state agencies, according to the Ministry of the Interior, Juan Ernesto Villamayor.
The Argentine authorities warned in July of this year of "possible criminal actions" on the border with Brazil and Paraguay by the so-called "Barakat Clan", to which the extradited person would belong, and allegedly made up of Lebanese suspected of money laundering and financing the Shiite group. Lebanese Hezbollah. EFE