http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2010/11_03/2.asp
Al Qaida in N. Africa supplying cocaine to Europe from South America WASHINGTON - The Al Qaida network in North Africa has become the latest Islamic insurgency organization to partner with drug smugglers in South America. A leading U.S. research center has asserted that Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has teamed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, for global drug smuggling. The Center for A New American Security said AQIM was overseeing the arrival of cocaine and other drugs from South America. http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/images/2010/terrorcocai ne.jpg A U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) sting caught Al Qaida agents smuggling blocks of cocaine in Ghana using sacks of rice. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/mali/7386278 /Cocaine-kidnapping-and-the-Al-Qaeda-cash-squeeze.html> AP _____ "More recently, officials have uncovered cooperation between the FARC and traffickers belonging to AQIM and other gangs in the Sahel region of Africa," the center said in a report. "As drug flows migrate across the Atlantic, spurred by increasing European demand for cocaine, so does the international presence of the FARC." In a report released on Oct. 19, the center said AQIM has become the latest Islamic insurgency group to cooperate with FARC and other drug networks in South America. The report, titled "Crime Wars: Gangs, Cartels and U.S. National Security," cited longtime collaboration between FARC and the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah, which included an arrangement of drugs for weapons. The report said AQIM was exploiting the expanding market for South American cocaine in Europe. The center said AQIM was using the Sahel and North African region for drug trafficking routes. "The rapidly growing European demand for cocaine has transformed West and North Africa into major transshipment areas that terrorist organizations like Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, Hizbullah and Hamas are now exploiting along with local organized crime syndicates," the report said. The report was released after Morocco's capture of an AQIM cell that worked with South American drug rings. In mid-October, the North African kingdom reported the arrest of 34 Al Qaida-aligned operatives who smuggled drugs through Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Morocco for Western Europe. The U.S. report said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hizbullah have formed the largest drug smuggling network in South America. The network, said to garner revenues of $12 billion a year, was said to have been enhanced by close Iranian cooperation with Venezuela in the smuggling of drugs, money, weapons and people. "The linking of the two countries' state-sponsored criminal networks magnifies the capabilities of drug-trafficking organizations and terrorist groups like the FARC and Hizbullah," the report said. "Since about 2006, Iranian military advisers have been serving with the Venezuelan army, joining a strong contingent of Cuban military officers. The IRGC, including members of the elite Quds Force, operates in Venezuela in both military and civilian roles, in the latter case managing a number of Iranian-owned and controlled factories in remote areas in Venezuela." Venezuela was also said to have been supplying passports to travelers who sought refuge in such countries as Iran, Syria and Yemen. The report said IRGC was believed to have been helping FARC and other groups opposed to Colombia. "While the IRGC has a mixed military-business function, Quds specializes in terrorist-type operations and has operated against U.S. forces in Iraq," the report said. "Hizbullah, for example, has been known to make arms-for-drugs deals with Latin American traffickers." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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