An Israel Defense Force reserve officer went on trial Tuesday in Jerusalem Magistrates Court for alleged dealings with a Colombian drug cartel.
Lt. Col. Yair Klein has been charged with the illegal export of military information, knowhow and equipment to Colombia.
Klein heads Hod Hahanit (Spearhead), an Israeli consulting firm licensed to export military equipment and expertise overseas. According to charges by the Colombian government, he and his associates trained assassination squads for the drug syndicate in Colombia.
Klein has denied the charges. He admits doing business in Colombia but insists he trained security guards to protect farmers from cattle rustlers and guerrilla bands.
Klein has also been linked to a mysterious $200,000 shipment of Israeli weapons to Antigua-Barbuda, a Caribbean island nation.
The weapons were later found at the ranch of a Colombian drug lord, Jose Rodriguez Gacha, who was killed in a shootout with law-enforcement officers last December.
But no charges have been filed against Klein in Israel about illegal exports to Antigua.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
