Man gets 155 years in scheme to help Hezbollah

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The first person convicted under a law that bars aid to terrorists was sentenced Friday to 155 years in prison for leading a cigarette smuggling ring that funneled profits to the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Mohamad Hammoud, 29, masterminded a scheme to bring cigarettes from North Carolina, where low taxes keep down prices, to Michigan for resale. In June, he was found guilty of sending $3,500 to Hezbollah.

"Terrorist acts cannot be carried out without the wherewithal of those who fund them," assistant U.S. attorney Ken Bell said outside court.

Hammoud's older brother, Chawki Hammoud, was sentenced to more than four years in prison for his role in the smuggling ring. On Thursday, three other men were sentence to prison terms ranging from two years to 37 months.

In a rambling 20-minute statement before he was sentenced, Mohamad Hammoud described himself as a lover of peace and freedom who had hoped to live in the United States.

In the smuggling scheme, cheap North Carolina cigarettes were to take to Michigan and resold without that state's higher cigarette taxes.