TERRORISTS RECEIVED DRUG MONEY, U.S. SAYS

Probe: DEA Chief Says Proceeds From Meth Ring Have Been Funneled To
Hezbollah, Perhaps Other Organizations. Lawyers For Accused Traffickers
Dismiss Idea.

Federal investigators have uncovered significant evidence that proceeds
from a nationwide narcotics trafficking ring have been funneled to
terrorist organizations in the Middle East, the head of the Drug
Enforcement Administration said Thursday.

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said in an interview that investigators
believe a portion of the millions of dollars collected by suppliers of a
methamphetamine ring went to the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.

Some money also has been traced to defendants' families in Lebanon, Yemen
and other Mideast countries, Hutchinson added, raising the possibility that
illicit proceeds have been forwarded to other terrorist groups. "Let me
make it clear," Hutchinson said. "I am satisfied that portions of the drug
sales have moved back to the Middle East and portions of that are going to
support terrorist organizations.

"Clearly, this is the first time we have seen with drug transactions in the
United States where proceeds are actually going back to fund terrorism" in
the Mideast, he said.

While the information is known to the FBI and federal prosecutors,
Hutchinson said, he could not discuss the possibility of additional charges
being filed because of the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The probe, dubbed Operation Mountain Express, was launched in 1999 and so
far has resulted in the arrests of more than 300 people for allegedly
producing methamphetamine using vast quantities of the over-the-counter
cold medicine ingredient, pseudoephedrine. Arrests have been made in a
dozen major cities, from Los Angeles to Detroit.

Attorneys representing several of the Los Angeles defendants dismissed the
notion Thursday that proceeds from the drug ring went to fund terrorist
activities.

"I don't think there is a shred of evidence that there is any connection"
between this case and funding terrorism, said attorney David A. Katz, a
former assistant U.S. attorney representing Khalil Mohammed, who faces
numerous counts, including allegedly conspiring to help manufacture
methamphetamine.

Added defense attorney Mark Werksman, also a former federal prosecutor: "I
haven't seen any evidence suggesting a connection to terrorism, and this
sounds like an inflammatory suggestion designed to prejudice the public
against our clients." Werksman represents Adnan Isa, a Chicago resident
accused of conspiring to supply pseudoephedrine to California clients.

The comments by the DEA's Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman from
Arkansas, come several months after authorities announced the latest round
of arrests in the long-running drug probe.

Operation Mountain Express, which involves other law enforcement agencies,
including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, first targeted U.S.
individuals and companies that were illegally supplying methamphetamine
producers with pseudoephedrine.

After an initial round of arrests and drug seizures dried up domestic
sources of the chemical, law enforcement officials said, narcotics
traffickers turned to suppliers in Canada.

That phase of the investigation, according to one January federal grand
jury indictment in Los Angeles, uncovered a vast smuggling operation with
huge shipments of the chemical transported from Canada to Chicago and
Detroit and then on to methamphetamine producers in California.

In Los Angeles alone, a federal indictment charged 36 people with drug
trafficking in Riverside and San Bernardino counties--an area long
considered the methamphetamine capital of the world. In all, more than 100
people were arrested in 12 U.S. cities where, authorities say, they also
seized enough pseudoephedrine to produce nine tons of methamphetamine.

At that time, authorities said, Operation Mountain Express already had
resulted in the seizure of more than 30 tons of pseudoephedrine and $16
million in U.S. currency.

While a number of those arrested were of Middle Eastern descent, Hutchinson
and other federal authorities said in January that their investigation had
turned up no evidence that the drug proceeds were sent to terrorist
organizations.

Since then, Hutchinson said Thursday, investigators have found significant
links between the drug ring and terrorism.

"In January, I made the statement that there was no evidence we had to show
money went for terrorism purposes," Hutchinson said. "I will say that has
changed based on our ongoing investigation."

While emphasizing that investigators had not linked the drug proceeds to
any specific act of terrorism, Hutchinson said, they have found proof that
money is making its way to extremists. He declined to offer details of the
proof.

Pinpointing who has received the money has been difficult, Hutchinson said,
in part because the transfers from defendants here to the Middle East have
gone out in "bulk form cash which is difficult to trace."

Defense attorney Katz, whose client is a Jordanian American, was skeptical
that authorities will find any specific links between the alleged drug ring
and terrorism.

"This doesn't apply to my client. He didn't send ... a dime to anyone,"
Katz said. "But it may be some of the other defendants did send money home.
That is the immigrant experience: to come to America and send back some of
the money you have made."

If some money has been stolen by a criminal or terrorism group, Katz added,
there is a "big difference between sending money home and having it taken
in an involuntary tithing ... and sending it to Hezbollah."