DRUG PROFITS SHIPPED TO MIDEAST

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities have amassed evidence for the first time
that an illegal drug operation in the U.S. was funnelling proceeds to
Mideast terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.

Evidence gathered by the Drug Enforcement Administration since a series of
raids in January indicates that a methamphetamine drug operation in the
U.S. Midwest involving men of Mideast 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," DEA
administrator Asa Hutchinson said.

DEA officials said the men, most of whom were indicted on drug charges
after their January arrests, were smuggling large quantities of the
chemical 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.

There is no evidence that any of the money was connected to the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, officials said.

The drug ring was broken up Jan. 10 as part of a massive DEA investigation.
The raids have resulted in criminal charges against 136 people and the
seizure of nearly 36 tonnes of pseudoephedrine, 81 kg of methamphetamine
and $4.5 million US.