The Investigation of Hezbollah Fundraising
The first major breakthrough in the investigation of illicit Hezbollah activities in the triple border area came in February 2000, when Paraguayan authorities arrested a 32-year-old Lebanese businessman, Ali Khalil Mehri, who had been allegedly selling millions of dollars worth of pirated software and funneling the proceeds to Hezbollah. According to the police, a CD confiscated from his store in the Triple Frontier contained images of "terrorist propaganda of the extremist group Al-Muqawama," an extremist wing of Hezbollah. Moreover, documents seized during the raid included fundraising forms for an organization in the Middle East named Al-Shahid, ostensibly dedicated to "the protection of families of martyrs and prisoners," as well as documents of money transfers to Canada, Chile, the United States and Lebanon of more than $700,000.6
Just weeks after his arrest, however, Mehri was released on bail. Although the court later rescinded the decision and formally indicted him on charges of violating copyright laws and aiding a criminal enterprise,7 by that time Mehri had crossed into Brazil. He later took a flight from Sao Paulo to Paris and is believed to have continued on to Syria.
Meanwhile, investigators were closely monitoring the activities of a much bigger fish - Assad Ahmad Barakat, the alleged ringleader of Hezbollah's financial network in the Triple Frontier. Barakat arrived in Paraguay as a teenager in 1985, having earlier fled the civil war in Lebanon with his father, a chauffeur for a Lebanese politician. According to investigators, Barakat set up a large network of businesses in Ciudad del Este that were involved in illicit fundraising for Hezbollah. In 2000, however, he fled to Brazil, where he is openly living with his Brazilian wife and children. <SNIP>