Above: Dino Bouterse
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Dino Bouterse, the son of Suriname President Desi Bouterse, has been charged with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group Hezbollah, according to a superseding indictment unsealed on Friday by United States prosecutors.
Bouterse was arrested in August in Panama City and initially charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and using and brandishing a rocket launcher while doing so.
“Today we add an additional charge of attempting to support Hezbollah to Dino Bouterse’s alleged crimes connected to a cocaine-smuggling conspiracy,” said US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara. “We will be relentless in our efforts, working with our law enforcement partners around the world, to pursue and prosecute those who seek to support terrorist organizations.”
In a statement, Bouterse’s legal team denied the charges.
According to US prosecutors, Bouterse, who had served as commander of Suriname’s counter-terrorism unit, allegedly used his position to “assist individuals he believed were members of Hezbollah.
The government said that Bouterse allegedly agreed to allow “large numbers of purported Hezbollah operatives to use Suriname as a permanent base for, among other things, attacks on American targets,” in exchange for a multimillion-dollar payoff.
They said Bouterse allegedly “supplied a false Surinamese passport for the purpose of making clandestine travel easier, including travel to the United States; began determining which heavy weapons he might provide to Hezbollah; and indicated how Hezbollah operatives, supplied with a Surinamese cover story, might enter the United States.”
According to the indictment, Bouterse met with DEA confidential sources in Suriname in June, when he allegedly brandished the rocket launcher. The next month, he allegedly met with one of the confidential sources to “discuss opening Suriname to the CSes’ purported Hezbollah associates.”
Later in July, Bouterse then allegedly met in Europe with one of the CSes and two other men purporting to be associated with the Lebanon-based terror group.
Prosecutors alleged that Bouterse initally discussed hosting between 30 and 60 Hezbollah members in Suriname for training, with the idea of hosting a Hezbollah cell in Suriname to act as a “kind of personal armed force.”
Bouterse then allegedly “confirmed his understanding that the purported Hezbollah operatives would operate in South America against American targets, and he agreed to supply Surinamese passports to the operatives.” The latter was aimed at helping them with their applications for visas to travel from South America to the United States, prosecutors said.
Ultimately, at a meeting in Europe in August, Bouterse allegedly delivered a Surinamese passport with false information, indicating that “everything was ready in Suriname for the arrival of the purported Hezbollah members and that some ‘toys,’ or weapons, would be available for inspection.
Bouterse was charged on three counts: attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah, conspiring to import cocaine into the US and using, carrying and brandishing firearms and a destructive device during the second count.
If convicted, Bouterse faces a maximum of 15 years in prison on count one and a maximum sentence of life in prison on counts two and three.
Judge Shira A Scheindlin has been assigned the case.