A Dearborn man was one of two people arrested for terrorist activities on behalf of Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organization, the Department of Justice announced.
Samer el Debek, 37, a.k.a. "Samer Eldebek," was arrested on Thursday, June 1 in Livonia for "providing, attempting and conspiring to provide material to support Hezbollah; receiving and conspiring to receive military-type training from Hezbollah; use of weapons in connection with a crime of violence that is alleged to have involved, among other weapons, explosives, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and machine guns; and violating and conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)."
He is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
According to the Justice Department, El Debek was first recruited in late 2007 or early 2008 and began to receive a salary through about 2015.
He received military training in Lebanon on several occasions from 2008 through 2014. That training included basic military tactics, the handling of various weapons, surveillance and counter-surviellance techniques, and the creation and handling of explosives and explosive devices.
Based on interviews with the FBI, el Debek "received extensive training as a bomb maker, has a high degree of technical sophistication in the area, and was trained in techniques and methods similar to those used to construct the improvised explosive device used in Hezbollah's 2012 Burgas, Bulgaria, bus bombing."
According to the Justice Department, he also traveled to Panama and Thailand to conduct missions for Hezbollah, which included cleaning up explosive precursors in a house in Bangkok others left because they were under surveillance.
In Panana, his role was to identify weaknesses in the Panama Canal and locate the U.S. and Israeli embassies and also find places were explosive precursors could be purchased.
Dearborn man arrested for terrorist activities on behalf of Hezbollah by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit on Scribd
