Yair Klein

Who is Yair Klein?

Yair Klein is a former lieutenant colonel in the Israeli army, who established a private mercenary company called Spearhead Ltd.

Through Spearhead Ltd, Klein provided arms and training to armed forces in South America, Lebanon, and Sierra Leone.

Klein and his company have been accused of training the death-squads of drug traffickers and right-wing militias in Colombia in the 1980s.

Klein was convicted by judicial authorities in Colombia for training several members of Colombian paramilitary groups and the militias of drug traffickers such as Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha and Pablo Escobar Gaviria in 1987.

Klein was convicted in 2001 by a Colombian court, and the Colombian government made unsuccessful attempts to obtain his extradition from Israel. In a 2007 interview with Caracol TV, Klein claimed that he was sent to Colombia by request of the National Police in order to train its members, and stated that he was willing to go back and help destroy the FARC guerrillas.

He also criticized the demobilization of the paramilitaries, saying it was "stupid" to do so while the guerrillas remained a threat.

Yair Klein spent 16 months in a Sierra Leone prison between 1999 and 2000 on charges that he was smuggling arms to rebels from the Revolutionary United Front.