DEA EVIDENCE LINKS U.S. DRUGS TO TERRORIST SUPPORT

Methamphetamine Ring Funded Mideast Groups

WASHINGTON - Federal authorities have amassed evidence for the first
time that an illegal drug operation in the United States was funneling
proceeds to Middle East terrorist groups like Hezbollah.

Evidence gathered by the Drug Enforcement Administration since
January's raids indicates a methamphetamine drug operation in the
Midwest involving men of Middle Eastern descent has been shipping
money back to terrorist groups, officials said.

"There is increasing intelligence information from the investigation
that for the first time alleged drug sales in the United States are
going in part to support terrorist organizations in the Middle East,"
said Asa Hutchinson, DEA administratory.

DEA officials said the men, most of whom were indicted on drug charges
after their arrests, were smuggling large quantities of
pseudoephedrine from Canada into the Midwest.

Officials said the smuggling went through two primary Midwest
locations, Chicago and Detroit, and involved several men with ties to
Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon and other Middle East countries. Officials say
they have no evidence the money was connected to the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.

Pseudoephedrine is used in some popular cold and allergy medications.
It is an essential ingredient in the creation of methamphetamine, a
powerful and increasingly popular drug known on the streets as
"ice," "poor man's cocaine" or "crystal meth."

Users inject or smoke meth. The powdery substance is produced by
heating about a dozen chemicals.

The U.S. drug ring was reselling pseudoephedrine to Mexican-based drug
operations in the Western United States that used the pseudoephedrine
to produce methamphetamine, authorities said.

The Middle Eastern men then were diverting some of the proceeds from
the pseudoephedrine sales back to the Middle East to accounts
authorities have begun to connect to terrorist groups, DEA officials
said.

Some of the connections involved the Iranian-backed terror group
Hezbollah, and some of the money has been traced to accounts in
Lebanon and Yemen, officials said.

DEA officials said U.S. authorities don't know how much money was
funneled from drug sales to the terrorists but said the
pseudoephedrine sales alone amounted to millions.

"A significant portion of some of the sales are sent to the Middle
East to benefit terrorist organizations," Hutchinson said.

The drug ring was broken up Jan. 10 as part of the massive DEA
Operation Mountain Express, which has smashed several major
methamphetamine operations in the last two years. Arrests were made in
Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Phoenix and several California cities.

The raids resulted in criminal charges against 136 people and the
seizure of nearly 36 tons of pseudoephedrine, 179 pounds of
methamphetamine, $4.5 million in cash, eight real estate properties,
and 160 cars used by the drug gangs.

Hutchinson has warned for months that illegal drug money allows terror
groups opportunities to siphon support from the United States, but the
DEA provided the first evidence of a direct flow of money.

The evidence of the terror ties emerged after the arrests. U.S.
authorities said it is possible some defendants charged with drug
violations could face additional charges.

The Bush administration has increased efforts to stem the flow of
money and items from sympathizers in the United States to foreign
terror groups under a law that prohibits providing "material support
and resources" to known terrorist organizations.

Six men who lived in the United States were indicted last week on
charges of conspiring to provide support to al-Qaida or other terrorists.

Federal agents believe they have uncovered efforts by U.S. residents
to use credit card thefts, illegal cigarette sales, diverted
charitable funds and cash smuggled in airline luggage to enrich
anti-American and anti-Israeli terror groups, officials said.