SEIZED HASHISH HAUL LINKED TO AL-QAIDA

U.S. Finds 2 Tons Of Drugs On Boat In Persian Gulf

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Navy seized two tons of hashish and detained
three men it said had ties to Al-Qaida when it halted and boarded a
boat in the Persian Gulf on Monday, military officials announced Friday.

``An initial investigation uncovered clear ties between the smuggling
operation and Al-Qaida,'' the Navy said in a statement.

Pentagon and military officials declined to give details of any
information that linked the shipment or the three men to Al-Qaida, but
said they had evidence that the cache of drugs aboard the 40-foot boat
was to raise funds for terrorist activities.

Three men among the 12 on board were taken to Bagram Air Base in
Afghanistan for further questioning, a senior military officer said.

The Navy boarding team was operating from the Decatur, a
guided-missile destroyer, near the Strait of Hormuz at the time of the
mission. A Navy statement put the street value of the hashish at $8
million to $10 million. The drugs were contained in 54 bags, each
weighing about 70 pounds, officials said.

``This capture is indicative of the need for continuing maritime
patrol of the gulf in order to stop the movement of terrorists, drugs
and weapons,'' said a statement from Rear Adm. Jim Stavridis,
commander of the Enterprise aircraft-carrier strike group.

The White House official in charge of drug-control policy said that as
the Bush administration and its allies achieved greater success in
cutting off state sponsorship of terrorism, those groups were seeking
other sources of money, including narcotics smuggling.