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Feds: Lebanese Woman Tried to Buy 2,000 Guns for Hezbollah

Generic - Arrest 2
Posted at 11:42 PM, Oct 09, 2015
and last updated 2015-10-09 19:52:18-04

NEW YORK (AP) - A Lebanese national has been arrested on federal charges alleging she tried to purchase thousands of weapons, including assault rifles and machine guns, for Hezbollah fighters.

    

Federal prosecutors say Iman Kobeissi is scheduled to appear Friday at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

    

Authorities allege the 50-year-old told an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent she wanted to buy more than 1,000 assault rifles and 1,000 handguns for Hezbollah associates in Iran.

    

Authorities say Kobeissi and 42-year-old Joseph Asmar also conspired to launder about $8 million from South and Central American drug traffickers.

    

Kobeissi was arrested Thursday in Atlanta and transferred to New York. Authorities said Asmar was arrested on a provisional warrant in Paris.

    

Their attorneys were not available to comment on their behalf.

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