DEA INVESTIGATION LINKS FIRST ILLEGAL DRUG PROFITS IN U.S. TO MIDDLE EASTERN
TERRORISTS

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 a series of raids in January indicates
that 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," 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. 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 generally
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 yet how much money was
funneled from the drug sales to the terrorist groups, but said the
pseudoephedrine sales alone amounted to millions of dollars. "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 a massive DEA investigation called 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 have 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 been warning for months that
illegal drug money provides a compelling opportunity for terror groups to
siphon support from the United States, but the DEA investigation 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 been
stepping up 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
they conspired to provide such support to al-Qaida or related terrorist
causes. Federal agents believe they have uncovered a broad effort by
American residents, many of them legal immigrants or visitors, 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. "The money mechanisms being used to aid terrorism
are limited only by your imagination," said one senior law enforcement
official involved in the effort. "There is a significant amount of money
moved out of the United States attributed to fraud that goes to terrorism."
The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because much of the
details remain sealed in a grand jury investigation. The official said the
early evidence suggests that groups like Hamas and Hezbollah benefit far
more from U.S.-based funds than Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.