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North Providence auto dealer and salvager Carlo Fakhri shipped vehicles to Lebanon without federal authorization, prosecutors said. (Google Map Image)
A North Providence businessman who operates an auto sales and salvage company was arraigned Wednesday in federal court on charges that he smuggled 19 vehicles from the U.S. to Lebanon.
Carlo Fakhri, 50, of Fall River, appeared in U.S. District Court in Providence and pleaded not guilty to 19 counts of smuggling and 11 counts of submitting false export information. He is accused of unlawfully exporting 15 pick-up trucks, a passenger vehicle, two Chevy Suburbans and a Range Rover to the Mediterranean country. Fakhri, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, is proprietor of D'Agostinos Auto Sales and Salvage in North Providence.