Police outside Amadar’s home in Lima, Peru. Photo by Screenshot
The week police in Peru arrested Muhammad Amadar, a Lebanese citizen who lived in the Surquillo district of Lima. Ordinarily, this type of event would not raise an eyebrow in the international media, except that the charges against him are particularly dire. He is accused of manufacturing explosives and is a suspected member of Hezbollah, an Islamic militant movement.
At a time when the international community, particularly U.S. policymakers, is concerned about the global spread of Islamic extremism, this development is particularly relevant. As for Peru, even one alleged Hezbollah militant in the Andean country is one problem too many, given the clear and present dangers that the Andean state faces.
A Successful Arrest of an alleged terrorist
Amadar, thought to be 28-years-old, arrived to Peru via a flight from Brazil on Tuesday, July 8. According to the Peruvian daily La República, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad warned Peruvian authorities of his suspected militant ties. Immigration officers immediately detained him upon arrival at Lima’s Jorge Chávez International Airport, but because there was no international warrant for his arrest, he was let go.
Nevertheless, the Peruvian police continued to monitor his activities while he lived in Surquillo, which included searching Amadar’s garbage. This ended up being his downfall–as the police found traces of TNT, coal as well as latex gloves among his trash. The Counter-Terrorist Directorate (DIRCOTE), a branch of the Peruvian police, was in charge of detaining Amadar on late afternoon on October 28th. When he was arrested, the police found TNT, black powder and other types of explosives in his home.
He was the only person arrested in the operation, as his wife Carmen del Pilar, who has dual Peruvian and American citizenship, is presently in the U.S.
Amadar is currently being detained in the headquarters of the aforementioned DIRCOTE where he is being interrogated.
According to the police, Amadar pretended to be a bodybuilder and worked out daily in a gym in Surquillo. “He was a friendly person, calm, he would greet us [when he came to work out] and only spoke English,” said the gym’s receptionist.
Hezbollah et al
Without engaging in alarmism, we can state some basic facts about Hezbollah. The group is notorious within Latin American security analysts for the two terrorists attacks it carried out in Argentina in 1992 and 1994. In the first incident, the target was….
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