These 'little alerts' show Iran’s growing presence in Latin America
by LINETTE LOPEZ
Last October, a 28-year-old Lebanese man named Muhamed Amadar was arrested in Lima, Peru. He was alone and hadn't left his apartment for weeks. A search of his apartment found TNT and other chemicals used for making explosives.
The Peruvian National Police analyzed the chemicals and determined that they were similar to those by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
"Based on conversations with Peruvian officials familiar with this investigation, what seems clear is that Amadar is an explosives expert, but not an operator," said former Peruvian Interior Minister Dardo Lopez-Dos in testimony before the US House subcommittee on Foreign Affairs. "He was not going to be the individual who would carry out the attack that was presumably being prepared."
That means Amadar had a network.
"The arrest in October 2014 of ... [Amadar], who confessed to being a member of Hezbollah, with clear evidence of having handled explosives, indicates they seem to be ready to move into an offensive phase using terror," Dardo Lopez-Dos added.
'You get little alerts all the time'
Iran, Hezbollah's state backer, has substantially grown its presence in Latin America over the last decade, and we are now seeing reminders of that infiltration.
"In the last few months... you would think that Hezbollah and Iran by extension have increased their activity in Latin America. But journalists are just picking it up more now," Joseph Humire, executive director at The Center for a Secure Free Society, a think tank, told Business Insider. "You get little alerts all the time. "
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