HezbollahUS arrests group members on charges of sending drug money to Syria

Hezbollah has been known to work with drug cartels across South America that are responsible for supplying Europe and the USA with “large quantities of cocaine”.

The investigation “once again highlights the unsafe global nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism”, the statement said.

The DEA said the arrests targeted members of Hezbollah’s External Security Organization Business Affairs Component (BAC), “which is involved in global criminal activities such as drug trafficking and drug proceed money laundering”.

The DEA says the worldwide investigation is on-going, and involves numerous global law enforcement agencies in seven countries.

Leaders of the network’s European cell are among those arrested and taken into custody last week, according to the DEA statement.

It is now controlled by Abdallah Safieddine and another high-profile terror suspect, Adham Tabaja, according to the DEA. According to Independent, Project Cassandra, includes seven countries such as Italy, Belgium, France and Germany monitoring the global activities of Hezbollah.

The agency added that the network’s couriers collect and transport drug proceeds from Europe to the Middle East, with much of the millions of euros in proceeds transiting through Lebanon. The investigation began last February, with the DEA saying that additional arrests were likely.

The U.S. Department of Treasury announced on January 28 that sanctions have been placed on more than 100 people and entities associated with the terrorist group (“U.S. Puts Sanctions on Alleged Hezbollah Money Launderers”, The Wall Street Journal, January 28).

A worldwide drug trafficking ring worth millions of dollars linking Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, with Latin American cartels has been uncovered by the American authorities, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has said.

The operation was part of a larger effort by the DEA and other governments to investigate and destroy Hezbollah’s drug and money-laundering operations across South America.

The Treasury said Noureddine and Hamdi Zaher El Dine worked through Noureddine’s Beirut company Trade Point International to move money for Hezbollah-linked businesses and individuals already on USA blacklists.

Here, it was used to fund the group’s activities in Syria, where it is fighting to bolster the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.