warrant and his associate Moreno Godoy was arrested in Romania . Both were extradited to the United States . The arrests stemmed from an undercover sting operation involving U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as members of FARC . During the 16-month operation , the agents arranged to buy more than 12,000 weapons from the two men , according to the indictment . Al-Kassar agreed to provide surface-to-air missiles for the FARC to shoot down American helicopters , and also offered to send 1,000 men to fight with the FARC , plus explosives and men who could train the FARC in how to use them , the indictment charged . Al-Kassar demanded 3,500,000 euros -LRB- $ 4.4 million -RRB- as `` partial payment '' for the weapons , it said . Justice Department officials say al-Kassar has been a source of weapons and military equipment for armed combatants since the 1970s . Kassar had told journalists before he was arrested that he had retired from arms dealing , but the United States says he had been involved since the 1970s , providing weapons and military equipment to armed factions in Nicaragua , Cyprus , Bosnia , Croatia , Iran ,
NEW YORK -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A Syrian arms dealer was sentenced to 30 years in a U.S. federal prison for conspiring to sell weapons as part of a plot to kill Americans in Colombia , according to prosecutors . Syrian-born arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar , seen in a file photo , tried to sell weapons to undercover U.S. agents . Monzer al-Kassar was also ordered Tuesday to forfeit all of his assets , according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney 's Office for the Southern District of New York . Al-Kassar 's co-defendant Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy received a 25-year prison sentence for his role in the conspiracy . Both men were convicted in November of five charges , including conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals , conspiracy to acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles , conspiracy to provide support for FARC guerrillas in Colombia , and money laundering . The federal indictment paints al-Kassar as an international arms dealer with a hand in conflicts in nearly every part of the world , with a web of bank accounts and front companies across Europe and the Middle East . Al-Kassar was arrested in Spain in 2007 on a U.S.