Alleged Hezbollah financial backer apprehended in Bucharest

A Lebanese citizen who is thought to be a key financial backer of the Iran-supported militant group Hezbollah has been arrested in Bucharest last week.

Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, 58, was labeled as a "global terrorist" by the United States in 2018. There was a USD 10 million reward for information on his whereabouts.

He has directed millions of dollars to Hezbollah over the years, according to authorities. American prosecutor Breon Peace said that the extradition of Bazzi and another Lebanese citizen Talal Chahine, 78, has been requested based on charges contained in an indictment issued last month in federal court in Brooklyn, according to News.ro.

"Mohammad Bazzi thought he could secretly move hundreds of thousands of dollars from the United States to Lebanon without being detected by law enforcement," Peace said in a statement. "Today's arrest proves Bazzi was wrong."

Romanian law enforcement authorities detained Bazzi after he arrived in Bucharest on Friday, according to the statement announcing his arrest.

The charges against Bazzi and Chahine include conspiracy to cause individuals in the US to engage in illegal transactions with a global terrorist and conspiracy to launder money. It was not clear who would represent the men when they arrive in the United States.

Authorities said Bazzi and Chahine conspired to force or induce a person in the US to liquidate their interests in certain Michigan real estate properties and secretly transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits earned in the US to Bazzi and Chahine in Lebanon. The men were caught in recorded conversations proposing numerous ways to hide from US law enforcement officials that Bazzi was the source and destination of sales revenue and that the men were involved, authorities said.

(Photo source: Vlad Ispas | Dreamstime.com)