CANNABIS CASH LINKED TO TERRORISM

Cannabis smokers are unwittingly funding Islamist extremists linked
to terror attacks in Spain, Morocco and Algeria, according to a joint
investigation by the Spanish and French secret services. The finding
will be seized on both by campaigners for a harsher clampdown on
cannabis and by those who argue that legalization is the only way to
end a petty dealing trend that is dragging growing numbers of
teenagers into crime.

The investigation by the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia and the
Renseignements Generaux was launched after Spanish police found that
the Islamists behind the March 2004 bombings in Madrid bought their
explosives from former miners in return for blocks of hashish. The
bombings claimed 191 lives.

Spain's role as a transit point for drugs was highlighted last week
when Madrid hosted the US Drug Enforcement Agency's annual
conference. Experts heard not only that North African hashish was
funding terrorism in Europe, but also that West Africa had become a
new hub for South American cocaine shipments bound for Europe.

Morocco is the world's leading cannabis exporter, with an annual crop
estimated to be worth at least US$38 billion.

Last month, the Moroccan navy seized 3 tonnes of Europe-bound hashish
off the Mediterranean port of Nador. The same week, Spanish
coastguards seized 4.3 tonnes of Moroccan resin off Ibiza.

The joint secret service investigation finds that hashish is part of
a 'complex financing network' serving the Algeria-based Salafist
Group for Preaching and Combat, affiliated since last year to
al-Qaeda. The group claimed responsibility for two bombings in
Algiers on April 11 that killed 30 people and left 200 injured.

French terrorism expert Dominique Thomas said the link between drug
dealing and Islamic terrorism was not new.

"The issue stands at the core of divisions within al-Qaeda between
those who believe that the end justifies the means and others who
argue that drugs are incompatible with Islam," he said.