The son of a notorious South American president who was busted in August trying to smuggle a rocket launcher, some guns and a fat stash of cocaine into the United States is now facing additional charges of trying to assist the terrorist group Hezbollah in attacks on the US, the feds said Friday.
Dino Bouterse — whose father Desi Bouterse is the drug-trafficking president of Suriname – was busted in an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation earlier this year after agreeing to supply people he believed were Hezbollah operatives access to his country so they could open a “permanent base for … attacks on American targets,” according to revised indictment unsealed Friday in Manhattan federal court.
In exchange, Bouterse was to receive to a “multi-million payment.”
Bouterse, the commander of Suriname’s so-called counter-terrorism unit, was recorded in Europe telling confidential sources and undercover DEA agents that he wanted to host 30 to 60 Hezbollah members in Suriname for training and operations, the indictment says.
He also said he wanted a Hezbollah cell there — in part to serve as his personal armed forces.
In one conversation, a confidential source told Bouterse, “from what I heard, … there is not much love between you and the Americans.”
Bouterse responded, “We have a problem with the Dutch. And Americans.”
Bouterse and another suspect were busted in Panama on Aug. 29 and previously charged with trying to send a suitcase filled with 22 pounds coke from Suriname to the Caribbean on a commercial flight — with the plan that the drugs would end up in the United States. He was also found to have an arsenal that included a light anti-tank weapon, which is a launcher containing a rocket, and pistols.
Two confidential DEA sources claiming to be connected to a Mexican narcotics trafficking organization also met with Bouterse, and he told them he could help them run drugs and obtain weapons in Suriname, the indictment says.
His father, President Dési Bouterse, was convicted in absentia by a Netherlands court in 1999 of smuggling over 1,000 pounds of cocaine into the country — but never served any prison time.
The elder Bouterse is a former military dictator accused of human-rights violations, including the killings of 15 political opponents in December 1982. He ruled the tiny country from 1980 to 1987 and regained power in 2010.
Prosecutors in Suriname charged Dino Bouterse with stealing 50 guns from the government intelligence service in 2002 but later dropped the charges due to lack of evidence.
Police arrested the younger Bouterse again in September 2004 after seizing a large number of assault weapons, ammunition and one kilogram of cocaine from a local auto shop.
He could face life behind bars if convicted of the charges he faces in Manhattan federal court.