DEA LINKS DRUG RING TO HEZBOLLAH TERRORISTS

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

DEA Administrator Asa Hutchinson said investigators believe that 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 said.