U.S. Attorney Announces Terrorism Charges Against High-Ranking Hizballah Member Who Helped Plan 1994 Bombing In Buenos Aires, Argentina

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Matthew G. Olsen, the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Edward A. Caban, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced the unsealing of terrorism charges against SAMUEL SALMAN EL REDA, a/k/a “Samuel Salman El Reda El Reda,” a/k/a “Salman Raouf Salman,” a/k/a “Sulayman Rammal,” a/k/a “Salman Ramal,” a/k/a “Salman Raouf Salman,” a/k/a “Hajj,” a dual Colombian-Lebanese citizen and member of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization (“IJO”), in connection with EL REDA’s alleged role leading decades of terrorist activity on behalf of Hizballah and the IJO.  EL REDA is charged with, among other offenses, conspiring to provide and providing material support to Hizballah, a designated foreign terrorist organization.  The charges are contained in an Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court.  EL REDA is based in Lebanon and remains at large. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, for decades, Samuel Salman El Reda has led terrorist operations on behalf of the Islamic Jihad Organization of Hizballah, including a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires that massacred 85 innocent victims.  The career prosecutors of this Office have not forgotten the pain and suffering that El Reda has allegedly caused, and we thank the dedication of our law enforcement partners for pursuing this important case.  The Southern District of New York continues to be a leader in prosecuting violent terrorists and terrorist organizations, and we will not rest until those who create chaos and destruction are brought to justice.”

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said: “Nearly three decades ago, long-time Hizballah terrorist operative Samuel Salman El Reda allegedly helped plan and execute the heinous attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish community center that murdered 85 innocent people and injured countless others.  This indictment serves as a message to those who engage in acts of terror: that the Justice Department’s memory is long, and we will not relent in our efforts to bring them to justice.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Smith said: “The evil and horror wrought by terrorism reaches all corners of the globe.  Samuel Salman El Reda was allegedly involved in carrying out terrorist activity on behalf of Hizballah throughout the world.  The New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and our law enforcement partners are unwavering in our determination to bring any individual who supports the evils of terrorism to justice.”

NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban said: “As alleged, El Reda was an on-the-ground coordinator of the fatal attack against South America’s largest Jewish center nearly 30 years ago.  In the decades after that attack, he allegedly continued to direct and support terrorism activities in the Western Hemisphere on behalf of Hizballah and has been involved in plots all across the world.  We want this alleged killer brought to justice.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment charging the defendant and other public court documents:^[1]

Hizballah is a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic organization with political, social, and terrorist components.  Hizballah was founded in the 1980s with support from Iran after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and its mission includes establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state in Lebanon.  Since Hizballah’s formation, the organization has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including U.S. citizens and military personnel.  In 1997, the U.S. Department of State designated Hizballah as a foreign terrorist organization, pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it remains so designated today.  In 2001, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Hizballah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity.  In 2010, State Department officials described Hizballah as the most technically capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States.

The IJO, which is also known as the External Security Organization and “Unit 910,” is a component of Hizballah responsible for the planning and coordination of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities on behalf of Hizballah outside of Lebanon.  In July 2012, an IJO operative detonated explosives on a bus transporting Israeli tourists in the vicinity of an airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, killing six people and injuring 32 others.  Law enforcement authorities have disrupted several other IJO attack-planning operations around the world, including through the arrest of an IJO operative surveilling Israeli targets in Cyprus in 2012, the seizure of bomb-making precursor chemicals in Thailand in 2012, the seizure of similar chemicals in May 2015 in connection with the arrest of another IJO operative, and the seizure of approximately three tons of ammonium nitrate in London in the fall of 2015.  Since June 2017, multiple IJO operatives have been arrested, charged, and convicted in the Southern District of New York for terrorism-related offenses.

Beginning in at least 1993, EL REDA has led terrorist operations on behalf of Hizballah and the IJO in South America, Asia, and Lebanon.  EL REDA was responsible for, among other things, helping to plan and execute the July 18, 1994, bombing of the Asociaión Mutual Israelita Argentina (“AMIA”) building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds more.  EL REDA’s activities for Hizballah in connection with the AMIA bombing included relaying information to IJO operatives that was used for planning and executing the attack.  In the decades following the attack, EL REDA continued to engage in terrorist activity on Hizballah’s behalf by recruiting, training, and managing IJO operatives around the world.  EL REDA deployed IJO operatives to Thailand, Panama, and Peru, among other places, to help Hizballah and the IJO conduct pre-operational surveillance in support of attack planning and stockpile explosive precursor chemicals, including ammonium nitrate.  For example, in or about May 2009, EL REDA instructed an IJO operative to travel to Thailand to help destroy a cache of ammonium nitrate and other explosive materials that the IJO believed was under law enforcement surveillance.  In or about February 2011, EL REDA instructed an IJO operative to travel to Panama to surveil the Panama Canal and Embassies maintained by the United States and Israel, and in or about January 2012, EL REDA instructed an IJO operative to travel again to Panama to conduct additional pre-operational surveillance. 

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EL REDA, 58, of Lebanon, has been charged with: (i) providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; (ii) conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; (iii) aiding and abetting the receipt of military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison or a fine; and (iv) conspiring to receive military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. 

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentence would be imposed by a judge.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of agents from the FBI and detectives from the NYPD.  Mr. Williams also thanked the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section, and the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, for their assistance.

This case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacob H. Gutwillig and Jason A. Richman are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Deputy Chief Larry Schneider of the Counterterrorism Section.

The charges in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.