Report: Hezbollah Operatives Running Vast Drug Ring With Mexican Cartels
- Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:42pm by
Buck Sexton
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(The Blaze/AP)– A Lebanese national who U.S. authorities say is the ringleader of a vast international drug smuggling ring with links to the militant group Hezbollah has been indicted on drug and money laundering charges after allegedly reaping more than $850 million in illicit profits.
The indictment was announced Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria against Ayman Joumaa, who is currently at large. It alleges he led a conspiracy that, among other activities, sold nearly 100 tons of Colombian cocaine to the Zetas drug cartel in Mexico between 2005 and 2007 that was ultimately smuggled into the United States.
The conspiracy has run since at least 2004 and at times brought in as much as $200 million in a single month, according to court documents.
Earlier this year, the Treasury Department designated Joumaa as a drug trafficker and said Hezbollah profited from his network.
Specifically, Treasury accused a major Lebanese bank, the Lebanese Canadian Bank, of being complicit in Joumaa’s money laundering and turning a blind eye to massive cash transactions. One of the members of Joumaa’s network is a suspected Hezbollah supporter, and bank managers had links to Hezbollah officials, according to the Treasury Department’s findings.
The criminal indictment itself makes no mention of links between Joumaa, 47, and Hezbollah, which the U.S. ¬government has designated as a terrorist group since 1997.
The court documents show that Joumaa’s network has played a major role in the global drug trade for years, helping Colombian producers get their product into the hands of cartels in Central America and Mexico, and from there into the U.S.
“Money fuels the drug trade, and Mr. Joumaa is alleged to be at the center of it all … working with those producing the vast majority of the world’s cocaine to get their drugs safely into the hands of Mexican cartels,” said Neil MacBride, U.S.Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, whose office is prosecuting the case. “Organized crime networks know no borders, and neither can U.S. law enforcement.”
The Drug Enforcement Administration led the investigation.
The Lebanese Canadian Bank was sold to an affiliate of France’s Societe Generale in March to restore confidence after those accusations triggered concerns in Lebanon that the U.S.-would begin targeting Lebanon’s banking sector as a way to exert pressure against Hezbollah. Attempts to contact the bank for comment were unsuccessful after working hours Tuesday.
Lebanon is a major financial hub for the Middle East and its banks, like those in Switzerland, have a reputation for secrecy.
The indictment seeks the forfeiture of at least $850 million, the amount that Joumaa allegedly obtained over the course of the conspiracy, according to the grand jury.
(file photo)
Peter Carr, a spokesman for MacBride’s office, said Tuesday that Joumaa is at large. Law enforcement officials believe he is Lebanon; it is unclear whether U.S.¬officials would be able to obtain his extradition.
It is the second time in recent months that federal prosecutors in Alexandria have announced charges against major international drug trafficking rings.
In July, authorities announced they had taken down a major drug ring that was smuggling drugs from Ghana through Dulles International Airport near Washington. Most of those charged in that ring, including the ringleader, were eventually extradited to the U.S. and are facing trial.
In addition, two men of Bangladeshi origin were caught by Customs and Border Protection illegally crossing the US-Mexico border last June and admitted they were members of a terrorist organization that allied with Bin Laden against America.
The latest Mexican cartel-Hezbollah nexus makes one thing clear: Hezbollah infiltration of Latin American continues to be a threat, and in the absence of greatly improved border security measures, is likely to worsen.
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Comments (144)
SituationalGravity
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:00pmIsn’t it funny; these soldiers of Allah using evil means to create revenue? Is drug smuggling allowed by the Sharia Law?
Report Post »NOBAMA201258
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:08pmI think it’s punishable by death in the religion of “peace”
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:33pmPop quiz class… What do these three groups have in common ?
Report Post »The Federal govt of the United states…
Mexican drug cartels…
Hammas…
Answer::::: all three criminal enterprises…..gold star for you !!!
chazman
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 9:16pm@POVERTY
I’m with ya …
@BARBER
Go piss up a rope …
Report Post »KidCharlemagne
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:59pmWhenever I see stories like this, then I am always reminded of this famous quote from economist Milton Friedman:
“If you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug cartel. That’s literally true.”
Report Post »http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman
kaydeebeau
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:05pmreminds me of something else in our not so distant past……and when one understands the whole racist (the real kind of racist) motivation behind prohibiting marijuana andd cocaine Al Sharpton et al’s heads should be exploding (for real rather than for imagined slights)
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:15pmFollow the money…look at who lobbied congress to get HEMP (Marijuana) classified as a controlled substance…
Report Post »BelindaB
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:51pmobama is allowing the infiltration of drugs into America, and I think he is a cocaine addict himself. The US Government ALLOWS drugs, and is HELPING them….by not enforcing US LAWS on IMMIGRATION…AND by not securing the US Borders…..throw this fraud barry out NOW….he is a FELON!
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:08pmI Was wondering why the Federal Criminal Govt. Has been prosecuting border guards, the free flow of drugs and money to Hamas….that explains it all, and arming both groups via fast and furious, nice group of gangster thugs all three of them…..
Report Post »KidCharlemagne
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:50pmHezbollah also makes a lot of money by smuggling cigarettes within the United States:
———————————————-
CNBC: “Cigarette Wars”
Friday, 25 Feb 2011
By: Brian A. Shactman
Historically, the crime is considered a common racket executed by the mafia. But in 2011, the criminals range from gangs to terrorist groups. There are cases of illegal cigarette sales with ties to groups like Hezbollah and the Irish Republican Army.
“We have made cases, notably, the Charlotte Hezbollah case, where a cell out of Lebanon was trafficking cigarettes from North Carolina (a low-tax state) to Michigan (a high-tax state”, said Jeff Cohen, a lawyer for the ATF. “They were using the proceeds to buy military armaments in Lebanon.”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/41785506
When you immensely tax or outright prohibit something, then all it does is create an opportunity for organized criminals which never existed before previously.
When the prohibition of Budweiser ended in 1933, then organized crime abandoned the trade entirely because they had to face competition from other competitors in the arena (organized crime hates competition).
Report Post »NOBAMA201258
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:06pmOne of the arguments for legalizing marijuana
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 9:40pm…and the contraband cigarettes are shipped right up to Dearborn and then sold to accomodating Arab owned store owners who then swap out EBT cash in lieu of actual food purchases for 20 cents on the dollar. Then a portion of the proceeds is given to local Imams who “wash it clean” and funnel it back to Iraq/Iran/Gaza Strip as “Humanitary Contributions”.
Report Post »elosogrande
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:48pmNo! Your kidding! Terrorists are working with Mexican drug cartels to dump more drugs into America? Why would they do that? Maybe to help degrade and already degraded society even more. Nikita said they would destroy us from within. More drug dependency will make America even weaker.
We may have to take a stand and start killing terrorists and drug smugglers, instead of KISSING THEIR FANNIES!
Wanted – honest, competent politicians and bureaucrats…with the balls to do the right thing for America.
Report Post »kaydeebeau
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:06pmI was just as surprsied as you to learn this
Report Post »chips1
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:14pmPoliticians aren’t elected for their balls. They need money from lobbyists. LIKE OBAMA!!!!
Report Post »NoRoomForSocialismHere
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:51pmDegrade while making millions
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:43pmThis is allowed to happen to get this exact response out of you…to DEMAND the government to go to war…before progressives do anything, they first convince you it was your idea to begin with…Social Engineering Propaganda at its finest…
Report Post »garyM
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:41pm@wbalzley…we may not can legislate morality but we can through evil means put our stamp of approval on the devil’s agenda…especially if we elect stupid people who say we can’t legislate morality!
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:30pmWhich is more stupid: Forcing drug use into the open where it can be regulated and dis-incentivized, or providing a lucrative market for criminals. Show me ONE instance in which PROHIBITION worked in history. I can name TWO where it FAILED: China tried to ban opium in 1799, and the United States tried to ban alcohol in 1929…both ended with the same results we are experiencing today…
Report Post »GO-FOR-LIBERTY
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:39pmHas Obama ever been tested for drugs?
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:31pmI think he admitted to having used cocaine in the past…
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:43pmWBAL: Wonder if that has anything to do with the hidden school records…
Report Post »neiman1
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:35pmWe don’t need no stinking border. Let them all in. We are a nation of immigrants and the ALL help build this country. Viva LaRaza….
Report Post »mils
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:31pmthings will not change….these are obama’s “people”…
Report Post »scout n ambush
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:29pmSo eric gungadimwit was selling guns to hezzballah and the dea was laundering money for them and our border is being left open for them all at the request of the imam and chief.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:40pmHow about a free drone or two to go along with those guns ?
Report Post »Rightallalong
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:58pmIf the Congress had any nads at all they would bring Holder up on charges of treason. This country is so screwed… Living in Texas is just going to get more interesting … some might say it will become a target rich environment.
Report Post »OneofMany
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:28pmHezbollah just learned from the CIA how to fund their operations. Drugs = Money off the books.
Report Post »Lord_Frostwind
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:27pmHas anyone else here read “Teeth of the Tiger”? I hate it when a Tom Clancy book becomes true.
Report Post »scout n ambush
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:44pmThen from what i hear you will hate tom clancy‘s rainbow 6 patriot’s.
Report Post »Iamnotanumber
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:18pmCan we get a redo here, its the perfect opportunity!! Lets erase all the names of Americans off the super secret assassination list and replace them with these jerks!!!
Report Post »V-MAN MACE
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:27pmReport: CIA Operatives Running Vast Drug Ring/ Firearm Trafficking/ Money Laundering operation with the Mexican Drug Cartels
Report: US Military Helping the Taliban Grow Opium in Afghanistan
REPORT: US BACKS AL QAEDA TAKEOVER OF LIBYA, ALLOWS ETHNIC CLEANSING OF BLACK LIBYANS UNDER PEACE PRIZE WINNER OBAMA’S TENURE
REPORT: NEOCONS AND LIBERALS HAVE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:50pm@ V: THOERY: All of this has been orchestrated to push the American People into war…progressives have created (incited, funded, and trained) an enemy for the sole purpose of inciting a global war from which they stand to reap huge profits…
Report Post »THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:16pmAnother reason to bring our triops home and secure our borders.
Report Post »Jayms
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:37pmThis logic is ridiculous. You don’t use a hammer when a screwdriver is needed. A soldier’s job is to GO OUT and fight the enemy where they are. If you see drug-pushers on your lawn do you invite them in and then attack them? No. You do NOT bring the enemy into your house before fighting them. Besides, domestic problems are handled by police, which are more than equipped to deal with the problem as long as we give them the tools to do so (which Obama actively and consistently denies them, despite that being his #1 job).
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:37pmNo. Just another reason to secure our borders. Remember “General Be-tray-us?” The Obama Crowd .
Report Post »coindexter
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:12pmwhatever funds are making their way to muslim terrorist groups thru the drug trade pales in comparison to the amount of $$$ getting there by means of oil imports from muslim countries. energy independence, closing the border, ending the war on drugs and getting back to manufacturing things right here in America is the only chance we have of saving our republic.
Report Post »coindexter
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:14pmoh…i forgot crushing the big federal gov progressives and forever putting them out of power.
Report Post »brntout
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:10pmCould it be “Fast and Furious” is now “Faster and more Furious”? I thought the borders were never safer,eh big sis?Eh Barry? Eh Eric?
Report Post »BannedByHuffpo
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:01pmO M G !!! With a porous, unguarded southern border, who could have possibly seen that coming?
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:07pmThis is why it’s so important to get Iran under control. Iran arms and funds Hezbollah.
Report Post »000degrees
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:12pmI hope all of the ass bags who have to get high realize what their “crime that isn’t hurting anybody” is doing to our country….
Report Post »TheWholeTruth
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:30pm@000DEGREES
Report Post »if the drug were federally DEcriminalized, this would be a moot point!
Sheeple, being led to slaughter, one after the other.
chips1
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 6:32pmLegalize drugs, clean up the dead ones and dump them in San Francisco. Save money on medical costs.
Report Post »welovetheUSA
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:59pmShocking………….tell us something we dont know.
Report Post »MaxineH20Sux
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:57pmOf ourse they are! Coming right across our borders too!
Report Post »I.Gaspar
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:01pmCome on…Uncle Janet says our borders are more secure than ever. Nobody’s getting through. Just ask Attorney Incompetent Holder. Or obamamama….
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:55pmThe name of the organization is Hezb’Allah. The Army of Allah.
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:52pmThe profit margin on drugs would be almost nothing if conservatives were not enamored with the War on Drugs. People don’t risk imprisonment or death for a 2% rate of return on investment.
Second, you can’t sell drugs where there is no demand. Ask any central American about the American war on drugs and that‘s the first thing they’ll tell you, and they’re right.
If you wanted to stop all of this madness, you’d have to reign yourselves back inside the confines of the Constitution and cease this bloody mess of life and wasted dreams called the war on drugs. If you needed a constitutional amendment to keep people from putting one drug in their bodies (alcohol), you need one for other drugs as well. No exceptions, unless of course, you’re not a Constitutionalist.
Knowing people as I do, I realize that this is a call that will not only not be heeded, but condemned. But hey, I told you so (telling you in advance, in case some figure it out 10 years from now).
Report Post »mike_trivisonno
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:58pmThe goal of The Army of Allah (Hezb’Allah) is not to make lots of money from drugs. They are here to replace the Constitution and my Bill of Rights with Islam and Sharia.
Report Post »clutter
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:06pmWar on Drugs- Failed.
Get Obama Out, put Ron Paul in. He is against the failed war on drugs AND is a proponent of closing/securing the boards… Win/Win.
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:06pmMan, I LOVE your namesake (Jefferson was awesome), and once again we are on exactly the same page. When will our government learn that you cannot legislate morality? PROHIBITION does NOT WORK! It merely chokes supply, creating a lucrative market for criminals, providing them with funds for even worse criminal activities.
Legalize it! Regulate it! Tax it! Let families, communities, and religious groups educate people to the dangers of doing drugs. Restrict use to designated areas, and require medical oversight. Force all producers and dealers to register. Impose severe penalties for drug-related crimes (DUI, Violence, etc)…
Report Post »HKS
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:50pmAnd our fine leaders think we don’t need to secure the boarders. I would suspect the democrats are a part of it. Maybe they get commissions on drug sales. That would explain their attack on any state that even thinks about securing the boarders. I’ll just bet that Holder is the chief handler for the cartels.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:52pmROSE-ELLEN just felt and thrill up her leg.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:45pmLiberal drug users (& some good ole boys too) funding the enemy.
Report Post »let us prey
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:51pmSo is our gov.
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:54pmActually it’s the War on Drugs funding the enemy. Pot grows easily and without cost all by itself, and used to be in every field across the nation, growing free of cost. It’s only the externalities of the war on drugs caused by people working off of oldearly 20th century racist propaganda (”black men smoke dope then rape white women, gasp!”) that has spurred this insanity, and huge profit margins.
Hate to tell you friend, but when it comes to this kind of stuff, conservatives by and large have nobody to blame but themselves. As ye sow, so shall ye reap.
Slainte.
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:18pm@Ghost of Jefferson: HEARSAY: We discussed this at length back when I was in High-School. Apparently the Lumber, Cotton, Chemical,and Pharmaceutical Industries all lobbied congress heavily to criminalize HEMP (Cannibus, or Marijuana).
Hemp was cheap and grew EVERYWHERE. It proveded an inexpensive alternative for making clothing, rope, paper, and as a medicinal herb. Once again it is an example of Crony Socialism at work…gotta protect the good ole’ boys from competition…
Report Post »KAdams
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:48pmInteresting how hemp is illegal, yet the Navy uses hemp to tie up their boats.
Report Post »barber2
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 8:28pmK: Maybe that is because hemp is good to use for rope, but not to use for dope. ( that’s all that our “good job/ everybody gets a trophy/ competition and capitalism are bad ” young ones need – more dope )
Report Post »let us prey
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 4:44pmYou don’t say. Duhhh
Report Post »wbalzley
Posted on December 14, 2011 at 5:38pmTHEORY: Progressives, Banks, and Corporations LOVE war…it is the perfect opportunity to expand government power and make huge profits. They have set up the “perfect storm”…economic, social, and political upheval…and are just waiting for someone to pull the trigger…
Report Post ».