Antoine Kassis, a Lebanese-Syrian national (59) and cousin of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, was sentenced in the U.S. to 30 years in prison after using his ties to the regime to arrange arms shipments to the terrorist organization ‘National Liberation Army of Colombia’ in exchange for hundreds of kilograms of cocaine. This was reported by the U.S. Department of Justice, which added that Kassis worked with his brother Maher and other senior Syrian military officials to import 500 kg of drugs through the port of Latakia and distribute them in the Middle East. He was arrested in Kenya and extradited to the U.S. in May.
