Suriname leader's son pleads guilty to trying to help Hezbollah

Suriname President Desi Bouterse's son pleaded guilty on Friday to charges of attempting to aid Hezbollah, a US-designated terrorist group, and conspiring to import cocaine into the United States.Dino Bouterse, who once held a senior counter-terrorism post in the South American country, admitted in a New York federal court that he had tried to provide material support to the Lebanese paramilitary group."In 2013, I knowingly provided a false Surinamese passport to a person I believed to be associated with Hezbollah, an organization I knew to be designated a terrorist organization by the United States," Bouterse, 41, said in court.He also pleaded guilty to conspiring to import narcotics and carrying a firearm during a drug-trafficking crime.Bouterse, who faces a sentence of between 15 years and life in prison, was accused of inviting people he believed to be from Hezbollah to establish a base in the former Dutch colony to attack Americans, in exchange for an initial $2 million payment.His plea came a year after his arrest by Panamanian authorities to face US charges that he conspired to import cocaine into the United States. The charge relating to Hezbollah was added in November.