United States Drug Enforcement Administration

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A dual Lebanese-Syrian national was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for narco-terrorism conspiracy and 20 years in prison for conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, to be served concurrently.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Antoine Kassis, 59, is a Lebanon-based drug trafficker who used his high-level access to the Syrian government under the Assad regime to traffic cocaine and weapons. Kassis laundered the proceeds of his drug trafficking through the organization of a Colombian co-conspirator. Even after the fall of the Assad regime, Kassis had access to weapons previously provided to the Assad regime by foreign governments, including Russia and Iran.

Since April 2024, Kassis and co-conspirators, who were based in Colombia and Mexico, agreed to supply military-grade weapons diverted from the Assad regime in Syria to the National Liberation Army (ELN), in exchange for hundreds of kilograms of cocaine. The ELN is a terrorist group based in Colombia dedicated to the violent overthrow of the democratically elected Government of Colombia. The U.S. Secretary of State designated the ELN as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization.

Kassis stated that he was a cousin of former Syrian President Beshar Al-Assad, and that he was working directly with General Maher Al-Assad, the brother of the former Syrian President, and other top military officials in Syria on the deal. Kassis reportedly paid the government $10,000 per kilogram of cocaine imported through the Port of Latakia. Other evidence at trial supported that the Assad regime raised revenue through charging a checkpoint tax on illicit substances passing through its territory, as well as through the manufacture and distribution of Captagon, a Schedule I controlled substance.

Kassis traveled from Lebanon to Kenya to meet a weapons inspector from the ELN, then signed a contract to import a shipping container full of fruit from Colombia to the Port of Latakia, Syria, intending that the container would contain 500 kilograms of cocaine. Kassis intended to oversee the distribution of the cocaine in the Middle East while his co-conspirators would launder the proceeds on his behalf. Evidence at trial demonstrated that his co-conspirators moved nearly $100,000,000 in less than 18 months, and did so for organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel, Hamas, and others.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit investigated the case with assistance from Bogota Country Office; Cartagena Resident Office; Accra Country Office; Rabat Country Office; Nairobi Country Office; Amman Country Office; Istanbul Country Office; Panama City Country Office; Mexico City Country Office; and Madrid Country Office.

The Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs worked with Kenyan authorities to secure the arrest and May 2025 extradition from Kenya of Kassis. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Colombia’s Cuerpo Técnico de Investigación, Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission and Ghana Police Service, Morocco’s General Directorate for National Security, and Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations also provided significant assistance.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Anthony T. Aminoff and Kristin S. Starr prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:25-cr-51.