Menem arrested over illegal arms deals

Former Argentine President Carlos Menem was arrested today as part of an investigation into illegal arms sales by his government during the 1990s, local media reported.

Menem was ordered held by a federal judge heading a probe of illicit arms trafficking to Croatia in 1991 and Ecuador in 1995.

Judge Jorge Urso has cited Menem in connection with his investigation into what he says was ‘‘an illicit organisation’’ that sought to sell weapons to the two countries while sales were banned.

There was no official confirmation of his arrest, first reported by local television network Todo Noticias and news agency Diarios y Noticias.

Hundreds of Menem supporters crowded outside a Buenos Aires court where Menem arrived to testify.

Menem is suspected by a federal judge of heading up an ‘‘illegal group’’ that organized the sale of 6,500 tons of weapons between 1991 and 1995. The weapons were officially destined for Panama and Venezuela but ended up in Croatia and Ecuador.

During that period, Argentina was bound by international agreements that enforced arms embargoes on Croatia and Ecuador. Ecuador and Peru waged a brief border war in the 1990s, and the embargo against Croatia stemmed from fighting in the former Yugoslavia.

The sales, decreed by Menem while he was president and later signed off by several of his closest advisers, were made at a time when sales to those countries were banned.

If charged and convicted, Menem could face a prison sentence of three to 10 years.

Menem has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying the sales were done ‘‘absolutely legally’’ and claiming he was the victim a ‘‘political persecution.’’

His arrest follows the arrest of his three former advisers, all of whom have been called by Federal Judge Jorge Urso in recent weeks to give evidence in the arms case.