Two men extradited to the U.S. for conspiring to aid the Taliban

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Two men extradited to the U.S. for conspiring to aid the Taliban

2011-04-30 02:35:44 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- Two United States citizens on Friday were extradited from Romania in order to face charges for conspiring to aid the Taliban, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara informed.

Alwar Pouryan and Oded Orbach had been arrested in Romania for conspiring to sell surface-to-air missiles and other lethal weapons to the Taliban for protecting heroin laboratories in Afghanistan.

"As charged, Pouryan and Orbach thought that they were arranging the sale of lethal weapons to members of a dangerous narco-terrorist organization to protect its lucrative narcotics operation and harm Americans in the process," said Bharara.

On Friday, the two men will make their first appearance in Manhattan federal court. Their co-defendants, Maroun Saade, Waklid Nasr, Francis Sourou Ahissou, Corneille Dato, Martin Raouf Bouraima, were previously arrested in Liberia and later extradited to the United States.

The seven suspects were detained after agreeing to provide various forms of support to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confidential sources whom they believed to be representatives of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

In October 2010, Saade, Pouryan and Orbach agreed to arrange the sale of weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, to be used by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pouryan was introduced as a weapons trafficker with links to Hezbollah.

Pouryan and Orbach told the DEA source that they could provide advice on which types of weapons to purchase. The two suspects also discussed the price and delivery of the weapons.

The two U.S. citizens were arrested in Bucharest, Romania, by local police forces on February 10, 2011. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of life in prison and a mandatory minimum term of 25 years of imprisonment.

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