Spain extradites alleged arms dealer to U.S.

(CNN) -- A suspected arms dealer accused of conspiring to sell weapons to Colombian guerrillas was extradited Friday from Spain to the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Monzer al Kassar had been wanted for decades before he was arrested in an undercover operation in Spain last year.

Justice Department officials say he has been a source of weapons and military equipment for armed combatants since the 1970s.

He left Spain aboard a private plane accompanied by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents and arrived in New York at 11:30 a.m. local time Friday (1530 GMT), a DEA spokesman said.

He is expected to appear before a federal magistrate in Manhattan before the end of the day.

Kasser was arrested in Madrid a year ago by Spanish police working with undercover DEA officers posing as members of the FARC.

The U.S. accuses Kassar and two other men of conspiring to sell millions of dollars' worth of weapons to FARC, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization.

The weapons included surface-to-air missile systems, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, thousands of machine guns, and millions of rounds of ammunition, according to a federal indictment.

A Spanish court last week approved his extradition on four counts, including conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals.

The two co-defendants, Tareq Mousa Al Ghazi and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, were both previously extradited to New York from Romania to face the same terrorism charges.

All three could face life in prison.

Kassar had told journalists before he was arrested that he had retired from arms dealing, but the U.S. says he had been involved since the 1970s, providing weapons and military equipment to armed factions in Nicaragua, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere.

CNN Justice Producer Terry Frieden contributed to this report