Man pleads guilty to supporting Hezbollah

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to funnel money, weapons and supplies to the Hezbollah terrorist group and will testify against other defendants, prosecutors said Monday.<br> <br> Said Mohamad Harb, 31, pleaded guilty to conspiracy Feb. 25, and a charge of providing material support to a known terrorist organization was dropped, U.S. Attorney Robert Conrad said.<br> <br> Harb&#39;s trial had been scheduled to begin in two weeks. Conrad said the plea was kept secret because Harb agreed to testify against other defendants in exchange for the relocation of some of his relatives from Lebanon to the United States. They arrived Monday.<br> <br> The case stems from an investigation into a group accused of smuggling cigarettes from North Carolina to other states for resale, then funneling the profits to the Lebanese militant group.<br> <br> Harb, 31, a Lebanon-born naturalized U.S. citizen, was charged last year with providing Hezbollah with cash and supplies, including stun guns, blasting equipment, night-vision goggles and mine-detection equipment.<br> <br> A lawyer for Harb declined to comment.<br> <br> Two more men still face charges of providing material support to a terrorist group, Conrad said. They are Mohamad Youssef Hammoud, originally identified by authorities as the group&#39;s ringleader; and Sheik Abbas Harake, identified as a military commander who lives outside Beirut.<br> <br> Hammoud, who was already charged with racketeering and money laundering, is in custody. Harake is at large.<br> <br> Three other men are charged with conspiracy in the case. Two are at large and the third was arrested in Canada but never extradited.<br> <br> &#34;There&#39;s only been eight people nationwide who have been charged with providing material support to a militant organization, and six of them were part of this investigation,&#34; Conrad said.<br> <br> Harb&#39;s trial would have been one of the first prosecuted under a 1996 law that forbids providing material support to known terrorist organizations. A conviction brings up to 60 years in prison.<br> <br> The case began in 2000, when 18 people were arrested. Some defendants were charged with smuggling millions of dollars worth of cheap cigarettes out of North Carolina to resell in states where higher taxes push the price up.<br> <br> A superseding indictment last year levied more serious accusations, with prosecutors calling some of the co-defendants members of a Charlotte-based cell of Hezbollah. <br> <br>

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