Suriname Probes Leader's Son over U.S. Hizbullah Charges
Suriname has launched a formal investigation into the son of President Desi Bouterse after he was charged by U.S. authorities with attempting to funnel weapons to Hizbullah, officials said Thursday.
Dino Bouterse is currently in U.S. custody following his extradition from Panama in August.
U.S. justice officials last Friday hit Bouterse with further charges, accusing him of attempting to supply weapons to Hizbullah, and offering to allow the party's fighters to train in Suriname.
Suriname's Procurator-General Subhas Punwasi said in a statement that officials were now investigating whether Bouterse broke local laws.
Punwasi said officials may request information from foreign countries as part of the probe.
According to an indictment unsealed in in a New York federal court, Bouterse was arrested after a meeting with undercover U.S. agents posing as Hizbullah associates to discuss hosting 30 to 60 militants in Suriname for training and operations.
Bouterse was given millions of dollars to allow dozens of purported Hizbullah operatives to use Suriname as a base.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison on the Hizbullah charge and a maximum sentence of life in prison over cocaine trafficking and brandishing a weapon.
Bouterse was previously jailed in 2005 after a judge convicted him of leading a gang that trafficked cocaine and weapons.
When he was released after serving three years of an eight-year sentence, his father gave him a job as director of the country's anti-terrorism unit.
Bouterse was elected president by parliament in 2010 but led a ruling military junta from 1980-1987, during the former Dutch colony's civil war.
Source: Agence France Presse
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