How Hezbollah Profits from U.S. Cocaine Sales
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/12/how-hezbollah-profits-us-cocaine-sales/46159/
Sebastian Rotella, ProPublica 4,937 Views Dec 13, 2011
U.S. authorities are building a politically explosive case that Hezbollah,
the Lebanese militant group, finances itself through a vast drug-smuggling
network that links a Lebanese bank, a violent Mexican cartel, and U.S.
cocaine users.
Federal prosecutors Tuesday charged Ayman Joumaa, an accused Lebanese drug
kingpin and Hezbollah financier, of smuggling tons of U.S.-bound cocaine and
laundering hundreds of millions of dollars with the Zetas cartel of Mexico.
The indictment in Virginia results from a continuing investigation by the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration targeting Hezbollah, which has a bloody
history of terror attacks against the United States and Israel.
Now a powerful partner in Lebanon's government, Hezbollah presents itself as
a legitimate political party and rejects allegations of terrorism. But
Tuesday's case reflects increasing concern that Hezbollah and its ally,
Iran's intelligence service, are expanding their presence in Latin America
as conflict with the West intensifies over Iran's nuclear program.
Hezbollah allegedly uses the cocaine trade to develop revenue and build
foreign networks, according to U.S., European and Israeli officials. In
October, the Justice Department charged an Iranian-American resident of
Texas and two Iranian intelligence officers with plotting to hire Mexican
cartel gunmen to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington.
Acting in February under the Patriot Act, the U.S. Treasury Department
publicly identified the Lebanese Canadian National bank of Beirut, Lebanon's
eighth-largest bank, as a "financial institution of primary money laundering
concern" linked to Hezbollah. Authorities alleged that the bank facilitated
the financing of Hezbollah by Joumaa, a 47-year-old businessman who has
resided in Colombia.
The DEA described him earlier this year as the hub of a sophisticated
operation that has smuggled cocaine from South America to Africa and Europe,
and laundered profits via money exchange houses, used-car businesses and
other companies in the United States, Latin America, Africa and Southeast
Asia.
The indictment unveiled Tuesday focuses on a different piece of the puzzle:
U.S.-bound cocaine trafficking.
Joumaa allegedly coordinated the smuggling of at least 85 tons of Colombian
cocaine through Central America and Mexico in partnership with the Zetas,
the brutal Mexican cartel founded by former commandos, according to the
indictment. Between 1997 and 2010, Joumaa's mafia laundered hundreds of
millions of dollars for the Zetas and their Colombian and Venezuelan
suppliers, regularly picking up southbound bulk cash shipments of $2 million
to $4 million in Mexico City, the indictment says.
"Ayman Joumaa is accused of facilitating the shipments of huge amounts of
cocaine for the United States while laundering the proceeds all over the
globe," said DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart. "According to information
from sources, his alleged drug and money laundering activities facilitated
numerous global drug-trafficking organizations, including the criminal
activities of the Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel."
Filed by the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, the
indictment does not mention Hezbollah. But U.S. officials say the alliance
with the Zetas was part of the already targeted network linked to the
Lebanese militant group.
"The indictment does not reflect all of the information that the government
has," said a Justice Department official. "It's accurate that Treasury's
previous statement connected Mr. Joumaa to Hezbollah. The investigation is
ongoing."
The investigation is politically sensitive because views of Hezbollah -- and
its alleged involvement in the drug trade -- differ around the world and
even in the U.S. government.
The Shiite militia killed hundreds of people in terror strikes in the 1980s
and 1990s, from the car-bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut to
attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina. In recent years, though, Hezbollah
has curbed attacks outside of the Middle East, focusing on its bitter
military struggle with Israel and growing role in Lebanese politics. The
group is seen in Lebanon, the Arab world and parts of the West as a
legitimate resistance organization.
As Iran pursues its nuclear ambitions, Hezbollah and Iran are locked in a
worsening shadow conflict with the United States and Israel. This week,
Hezbollah leaders claimed that they had identified clandestine CIA officers
working in Lebanon.
International sanctions have hurt Iran, which helps fund, train and direct
Hezbollah. As a result, antiterror officials say the militant group has
relied more heavily on longtime ties to criminal rackets involving members
of the far-flung Lebanese diaspora. The DEA has pursued several cases in
which Hezbollah operatives allegedly teamed up with or taxed
Lebanese-connected traffickers of South American cocaine.
The Joumaa case is the biggest so far. The network described in U.S.
documents encompasses Joumaa relatives and associates who own money
exchanges, stores and other businesses in Colombia, Panama, Lebanon, Benin
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Joumaa allegedy has overseen flows of cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela
through two smuggling pipelines: north through Mexico to the United States
and east through Africa to Europe and the Middle East.
The organization charged its partners in Mexico and elsewhere between 8
percent and 14 percent for using its sophisticated apparatus to launder the
huge cash proceeds, the indictment says. It accuses Joumaa of laundering
$850 million.
"Hezbollah derived financial support from the criminal activities of
Joumaa's network," says a Treasury Department document that laid out
allegations about the Lebanese Canadian Bank in February. "Additionally, LCB
managers are linked to Hezbollah officials outside Lebanon. For example,
Hezbollah's Tehran-based envoy Abdallah Safieddine is involved in Iranian
officials' access to LCB and key LCB managers, who provide them banking
services."
A money exchange house in Joumaa's network used a branch of the Lebanese
bank to deposit "bulk proceeds of drug sales" and then wire them to
"U.S.-based used car dealers," the document says. The cars were sold and
sent to Africa in suspiciously structured transactions, U.S. officials say.
The Lebanese bank denied the U.S. charges in February. In the wake of the
Treasury allegations, however, Lebanon's Central Bank announced that a
Lebanese subsidiary of Societe Generale would acquire the assets and
liabilities of Lebanese Canadian Bank, which had 35 branches and $5 billion
in assets.
Chris Kraul in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this story.
This story was originally published by the independent, non-profit newsroom
ProPublica.
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