DEA busts big Hezbollah drug trafficking ring

[GBU-28]

Those pious Muslims dealing in drugs. Party of God, don't you know.

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced on Tuesday that it uncovered major international criminal activity by Shi'ite Islamist group Hezbollah, in which it used funds from drug trafficking operations to purchase weapons and fund its other activities

Several arrests, targeting what the DEA referred to as the Lebanese Hezbollah’s External Security Organization Business Affairs Component (BAC), were conducted by the DEA and international law enforcement from seven other countries. The arrests indicate the dangerous global connection between drug trafficking and terrorism.

The arrests were part of the DEA'S "Project Cassandra" which targets and monitors the global network of Hezbollah activities responsible for moving large quantities of cocaine in the US and Europe. The lead came from an initial investigation that had been conducted into the Lebanese-Canadian Bank.

“DEA and our international partners are relentless in our commitment to disrupt any attempt by terrorists and terrorist organizations to leverage the drug trade against our nations. DEA and our partners will continue to dismantle networks who exploit the nexus between drugs and terror using all available law enforcement mechanisms,” said DEA Acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley.

The Lebanese Hezbollah External Security Organization Business Affairs Component (BAC), was founded by deceased former Hezbollah Senior Leader Imad Mughniyah. It currently operates under the control of Abdallah Safieddine, and Adham Tabaja who recently became a US Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).

Over the years, Hezbollah had set up business relationships with drug cartels in South America, such as La Oficina de Envigado, who are the major suppliers of cocaine to the US and Europe. The Hezbollah BAC continues to launder significant profits from this drug exchange in a trade-based scheme known as the Black Market Peso Exchange.

“These drug trafficking and money laundering schemes utilized by the Business Affairs Component provide a revenue and weapons stream for an international terrorist organization responsible for devastating terror attacks around the world,” said Riley.

Starting in February of 2015, DEA and foreign law enforcement bodies in Europe initiated an operation targeting BAC's criminal activities in Europe. Since then, European forces have uncovered an extremely intricate and interwoven network in a number of countries, called "money countries" by DEA, over which millions of euros in drug-sponsored funds from Europe to the Middle East are collected and transported.

The payments from these money countries are then transferred to Colombia for payment of drug traffickers, while large portions of payments have been found to make their transit through Lebanon.

This complex web of drug sales and profits to the Middle East significantly benefits terrorist organizations in the region, namely Hezbollah.

The DEA and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), working closely with European counterparts in France, Germany, Italy and Belgium, arrested top leaders of the European cell of the BAC last week.

Most significantly, forces arrested US-designated terrorist Mohamad Noureddine, a Lebanese money launderer, who worked directly with Hezbollah’s financial apparatus to transfer funds, via his via his Lebanon-based company, and has maintained direct ties to Hezbollah terrorists located in Iraq and Lebanon.

Cooperation between DEA and its international counterparts were crucial in dismantling this labyrinth of drug networks worldwide.

Additionally, the US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions last week targeting Hezbollah’s financial support network by designating Hezbollah-affiliated money launderers Noureddine and Hamdi Zaher El Dine, as well as the Lebanese trade company involved in the transfer of funds as designated terrorists or accomplices to terror.

All assets of the groups or individuals involved, including those located in the US or in the possession or control of US have been frozen. Additionally, sanctions have been imposed in the US for engaging in business with those involved.

“Hezbollah needs individuals [like Mohamad Noureddine and Hamdi Zaher El Dine] to launder criminal proceeds for use in terrorism and political destabilization," said Adam J. Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

"We will continue to target this vulnerability, and expose and disrupt such enablers of terrorism wherever we find them,” he stated.

Iran, hangs drug traffickers coming into Iran - but funds the trafficking of drugs into the west.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/DE...-by-Hezbollah-to-fund-global-terrorism-443575

 

[Sulman Badshah]

that's concerning if true ... the source of drugs might be from Afghanistan

 

[Solomon2]

that's concerning if true ... the source of drugs might be from Afghanistan

Why Afghanistan and not Pakistan? Or Iran? Or Lebanon?

 

[The SiLent crY]

that's a pretty reliable source to base the debate on !

 

[GBU-28]

that's a pretty reliable source to base the debate on !

The source is the DEA.

that's concerning if true ... the source of drugs might be from Afghanistan

The Hezzies have been involved in the drugs trade for many years.

 

[Sulman Badshah]

Why Afghanistan and not Pakistan? Or Iran? Or Lebanon?

92 % drugs are from Afghanistan .. hence the probability is 9 to afghanistan and 1 to other countries

 

[Serpentine]

Pure BS. They have accused Hezbollah Hundreds of times, but not a single time they have provided concrete proof. It's just a campaign to tarnish Hezbollah's image. The group itself has denied it every single time. CIA and FBI have more clandestine drug trade that Hezbollah could only dream of.

 

[Desert Fox]

Why Afghanistan and not Pakistan? Or Iran? Or Lebanon?

Or Israel??

http://www.haaretz.com/print-editio...e-1.328480?v=5F35C03BAD85815289440007E923393E

 

[Desert Fox]

Pure BS. They have accused Hezbollah Hundreds of times, but not a single time they have provided concrete proof. It's just a campaign to tarnish Hezbollah's image. The group itself has denied it every single time. CIA and FBI have more clandestine drug trade that Hezbollah could only dream of.

Opium production in Afghanistan sky rocketed 90% under NATO occupation.

 

[Solomon2]

Or Israel?? http://www.haaretz.com/print-editio...e-1.328480?v=5F35C03BAD85815289440007E923393E

Nothing in the story about Israel being a source of illegal drugs.

 

[Desert Fox]

Nothing in the story about Israel being a source of illegal drugs.

But drug trafficking is a big part of organized crime, of which Israel is an epicenter of. Besides drug trafficking Israel is also a major destination for human trafficking (slave trade) particularly of Christian eastern European women.

 

[Solomon2]

But drug trafficking is a big part of organized crime, of which Israel is an epicenter of -

Oh, this is another "Jews are ultimately to blame for all evils" post - lying propaganda that flies in the face of both evidence and experience. Why do you respect yourself for posting such dreck?

 

[Solomon2]

Pure BS. They have accused Hezbollah Hundreds of times, but not a single time they have provided concrete proof -

...Signs of Hezbollah's increasing reliance on criminal activity quickly began popping up across the globe. In February of this year [2011], U.S. prosecutors indicted seven U.S. citizens -- one of whom is a known Hezbollah associate -- for allegedly conspiring to aid the Taliban. Drug Enforcement Administration agents recorded meetings in Benin, Ghana, Romania, and Ukraine between the defendants and confidential DEA sources posing as Taliban representatives. According to the tapes, some of the individuals agreed to receive, store, and move tons of Taliban heroin. Others offered to sell substantial quantities of cocaine that the Taliban or their agents could then resell, either themselves or through drug dealers, at a profit in the United States. One of the indicted individuals, Alwar Pouryan, an Iranian national described by one of his co-conspirators as "a weapons trafficker affiliated with Hezbollah," planned to sell weapons to Taliban representatives, giving DEA agents the details about the proposed deal. According to the indictment against Pouryan and the other six suspects, the list included surface-to-air missiles, antitank missiles, grenade launchers, and AK-47 and M-16 rifles. Hezbollah operatives have demonstrated their willingness to sell drugs and arms -- even for ostensible adversaries such as the Taliban -- to supplement their revenues.

The discovery of this Hezbollah-linked conspiracy to support the Taliban followed the U.S. Treasury Department's decision in January of this year to blacklist the Lebanese narcotics kingpin Ayman Joumma, along with nine people and 19 businesses involved in his drug trafficking and money laundering. An extensive DEA investigation revealed that Joumma laundered as much as $200 million a month from cocaine sales in Europe and the Middle East to operations located in Colombia, Lebanon, Panama, and West Africa through money exchange houses, bulk cash smuggling, and other schemes. According to U.S. prosecutors, the majority of those drug profits were funneled back to Hezbollah. Two weeks later, the Treasury Department designated the Lebanese Canadian Bank as a "financial institution of primary money-laundering concern" for colluding with Joumma to launder his illicit profits and direct them to Hezbollah. The depth of Hezbollah's relationship with Joumma and with LCB, Lebanon's eighth-largest bank, with a reported $5 billion in assets in 2009, suggests just how intricate and ambitious Hezbollah's criminal activities have become -

 

[alarabi]

It's well known that Hezbolla has been funding its terrorist actions through international drug trafficking

In 2005, Ecuador caught a drug gangsta that 70% of it's money goes to Hezbolla.. Also, Brazil banned Subhi Faiadh who one of hezbolla terrorist and drug dealers after they got evidence about his commitment in drug smuggling.

This is a research about great history of Hezbolla as drug dealer and producer

 

[Solomon2]

February 01, 2016
Contact: DEA Public Affairs
(202) 307-7977

DEA and European Authorities Uncover Massive Hizballah Drug and Money Laundering Scheme
7 countries involved in disrupting drug money flow for terror regime​

FEB 01 (WASHINGTON) - The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) today announced significant enforcement activity including arrests targeting Lebanese Hizballah’s External Security Organization Business Affairs Component (BAC), which is involved in international criminal activities such as drug trafficking and drug proceed money laundering. These proceeds are used to purchase weapons for Hizballah for its activities in Syria. This ongoing investigation spans the globe and involves numerous international law enforcement agencies in seven countries, and once again highlights the dangerous global nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism.

This effort is part of DEA’s Project Cassandra, which targets a global Hizballah network responsible for the movement of large quantities of cocaine in the United States and Europe. This global network, referred to by law enforcement as the Lebanese Hizballah External Security Organization Business Affairs Component (BAC), was founded by deceased Hizballah Senior Leader Imad Mughniyah and currently operates under the control of Abdallah Safieddine and recent U.S.-designated Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) Adham Tabaja. Members of the Hizballah BAC have established business relationships with South American drug cartels, such as La Oficina de Envigado, responsible for supplying large quantities of cocaine to the European and United States drug markets. Further, the Hizballah BAC continues to launder significant drug proceeds as part of a trade based money laundering scheme known as the Black Market Peso Exchange.

“These drug trafficking and money laundering schemes utilized by the Business Affairs Component provide a revenue and weapons stream for an international terrorist organization responsible for devastating terror attacks around the world,” said DEA Acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley. “DEA and our international partners are relentless in our commitment to disrupt any attempt by terrorists and terrorist organizations to leverage the drug trade against our nations. DEA and our partners will continue to dismantle networks who exploit the nexus between drugs and terror using all available law enforcement mechanisms.”

Beginning in February 2015, based on DEA investigative leads, European authorities initiated an operation targeting the network’s criminal activities in that region. Since then, law enforcement authorities, closely supported by DEA, have uncovered an intricate network of money couriers who collect and transport millions of euros in drug proceeds from Europe to the Middle East. The currency is then paid in Colombia to drug traffickers using the Hawala disbursement system. A large portion of the drug proceeds was found to transit through Lebanon, and a significant percentage of these proceeds are benefitting terrorist organizations, namely Hizballah.

This investigation is a result of leads developed during the investigation into the Lebanese Canadian Bank.

The combination of aggressive international law enforcement investigations and Treasury’s ongoing sanctions (see below) pressure shows the scope of the global commitment to diminish the ability of Hizballah and its financial supporters to move funds worldwide.

Enforcement Action

With DEA and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) working closely with foreign counterparts in France, Germany, Italy and Belgium, authorities arrested top leaders of the European cell of this Lebanese Hizballah External Security Organization BAC last week. The most significant arrest was of the U.S.-designated SDGT Mohamad Noureddine, a Lebanese money launderer who has worked directly with Hizballah’s financial apparatus to transfer Hizballah funds via his Lebanon-based company Trade Point International S.A.R.L. and maintained direct ties to Hizballah commercial and terrorist elements in both Lebanon and Iraq.

The CPB National Targeting Center partnered with DEA and international counterparts such as Europol in this investigation. CBP’s continued cooperation with the DEA , and European law enforcement counterparts is a vital component in dismantling complex global drug trafficking and money laundering networks as well as enhancing the security of the United States border.

U.S. Treasury Sanctions

Separately, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions last week targeted Hizballah’s financial support network by designating Hizballah-affiliated money launderers Noureddine and Hamdi Zaher El Dine, as well as Trade Point International S.A.R.L, a company owned or controlled by Noureddine, pursuant to Executive Order 13224. This order targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. Noureddine and El Dine were designated for providing financial services to or in support of Hizballah, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Trade Point International S.A.R.L. was designated for being owned or controlled by Noureddine. As a result of Treasury’s action, all assets of the designated individuals or entities that are located in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are frozen, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

As part of its designation, Adam J. Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stated that, “Hizballah needs individuals like Mohamad Noureddine and Hamdi Zaher El Dine to launder criminal proceeds for use in terrorism and political destabilization. We will continue to target this vulnerability, and expose and disrupt such enablers of terrorism wherever we find them.”

Participating offices and agencies:

DEA Philadelphia, DEA Miami, DEA Newark, DEA New York, DEA Special Operations Division, DEA Bilateral Investigative Unit, DEA country offices in Europe, as well as Bogota and Cartagena
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
EUROPOL
EUROJUST