Hezbollah suspect arrested in Brazil

SAO PAULO — Brazilian police on Friday arrested a fugitive whom U.S. authorities have accused of serving as Hezbollah’s financier and who has repeatedly been accused of illegal activity in a lawless border area where three South American nations meet.

Police took Assad Ahmad Barakat into custody in the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguacu, which is home to the famous Iguazu Falls and sits where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay converge. The Tri-Border Area, as it is known, has long been a haven for smugglers, traffickers and counterfeiters, and U.S. authorities and others have alleged it is also a redoubt for terrorism support and financing.

Authorities in Paraguay are seeking Barakat on allegations of false representation, police said, and Brazil’s Supreme Court authorized his arrest earlier this month.

The Brazilian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Barakat’s case met the requirements for an arrest with a view to extradition — but it was not clear when or if that would happen.

In 2004, the U.S. Treasury Department said Barakat was one of the most influential members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization. It accused him of using his businesses in the Tri-Border Area as a front for fundraising for Hezbollah as well as coercing local shopkeepers into giving money to the organization.

In Paraguay, Barakat is currently accused of presenting a declaration of incorrect nationality and omitting information about the loss of nationality, Brazilian prosecutors said Friday. Barakat was born in Lebanon but has lived in South America for years.