(13 Jun 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of pier
2. Close up of Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officer
3. Wide of heliport with sign reading (English) "Downtown Manhattan Heliport"
4. New York City police boat
5. Helicopter landing
6. DEA agents waiting by helipad
7. Suspected Syrian arms dealer, Monzer al-Kassar being helped out of helicopter and led to car in handcuffs
8. DEA agent waiting, police vehicle driving away
9. Various of courthouse
STORYLINE:
A suspected Syrian arms dealer, Monzer al-Kassar, who was detained last year in a US undercover operation, was extradited to the United States on Friday, according to the US Embassy.
Al-Kassar arrived in New York City via helicopter on Friday afternoon. He was flanked by federal agents on his way to Manhattan Federal Court where he was scheduled to make an initial appearance.
A long-time resident of Spain, al-Kassar was arrested in Madrid in June 2007 as part of a sting operation.
The United States claims al-Kassar plotted to supply weapons to Colombia's FARC leftist rebels, which the United States and other countries classify as a terrorist group.
Spain's National Court approved the extradition in October and after al-Kassar lost a series of appeals, the Spanish government gave final approval last week.
As a condition for the extradition, the United States agreed not to seek the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole, because Spanish law does not allow for either of those forms of punishment.
In his appeal, al-Kassar argued that the charges against him were of dubious legality, and that the United States had racist and political motives in pursuing him.
But in rejecting the appeal, a panel of National Court judges said that he had been a known arms trafficker since the 1970s and had provided weapons to armed groups in countries including Nicaragua, Brazil, Bosnia, Iran and Iraq.
The United States says that in the sting operation, undercover DEA officers arranged a fictitious deal with al-Kassar, convincing him they represented rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
They said they wanted to buy surface-to-air missile systems, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, thousands of machine guns and (m) millions of rounds of ammunition for the group to take down US helicopters aiding Colombia's battle against drug traffickers.
The US indictment charges al-Kassar with conspiring to support terrorists, conspiring to kill American soldiers, conspiring to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles and money laundering.
Al-Kassar has lived in the Spanish resort town of Marbella on Spain's Costa del Sol for many years.
He stood trial in Spain in 1995 on charges of supplying assault rifles to Palestinian militants in the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985, in which one American was killed, but was acquitted for lack of evidence.

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