DEA CHIEF LINKS DRUGS, TERROR

Narcotics Fund Terrorism, Hutchinson Says

The war on drugs and the war on terrorism share many of the same enemies,
Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson told drug
investigators gathered for a conference in Fort Collins on Wednesday.

From Colombia, where paramilitary groups are financed by cocaine sales, to
the Middle East, where the militant group Hezbollah has been tied to
proceeds from a U.S. methamphetamine ring, and in Afghanistan, where the
Taliban profited from heroin, drug money is increasingly turning up in the
coffers of terrorists, Hutchinson said.

"It is something we're watching very carefully," he told police officers
gathered for a regional conference on so-called club drugs. "It's important
to understand that drug sales in the United States can (put money) into the
hands of violent terrorists."

As governments, under international pressure, have grown hesitant to
sponsor terrorist groups, those groups have turned to the international
drug trade for financing, he said.

He said DEA agents stationed in 56 foreign countries are working hard to
find the avenues by which drug money is reaching terrorist groups.

"That's one thing the DEA is good at," he said. "Our agents do an
outstanding job out there, and we're in the international arena."

The ongoing Rocky Mountain Club Drug conference, attended by 245 drug
investigators from 10 states, the Netherlands and Belgium, is primarily
addressing the prevention and prosecution of domestic club drug use.

But it's important for local drug investigators to understand that their
cases often have international aspects, Hutchinson said.

He congratulated those in attendance for recognizing the increasing use of
club drugs like Ecstasy and GHB by American teens.

"It is the No. 1 drug problem that faces our urban youth," he said. "We as
an agency have to be focused on club drugs."