Spain handed over a Syrian arms dealer, Monzer al-Kassar, on Friday to U.S. authorities, who suspect him of attempting to sell weapons to Colombia's FARC guerrillas, police said.

The move came a week after Spain's government gave final approval to a U.S. extradition request for Kassar, a longtime resident of Spain.

U.S. authorities say Kassar agreed to sell machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, millions of rounds of ammunition and surface-to-air missile systems to the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) between 2006 and May last year.

Kassar denies the charges, saying the weapons consignment was a legitimate sale to Guatemala.

Kassar is dubbed the "Prince of Marbella" because of his opulent lifestyle; he was arrested on June 7, 2007 at Madrid's airport.

A Spanish court agreed to his extradition last October, a decision confirmed on appeal in December. But the court stipulated that if convicted, he would not face the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison, guarantees it said it received in April.

According to prosecutors, Kassar has been an arms dealer since the early 1970s, providing weapons and military equipment to groups in Nicaragua, Brazil, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Iran, and Iraq.

New York prosecutors have charged him with conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a terrorist organization, money-laundering and conspiracy to acquire an anti-aircraft missile and kill U.S. nationals.