U.S. Drug Rings Probed for Ties to Mideast Terrorists

Federal agents are investigating more than 40 major narcotics cases in the U.S. in which the proceeds of drug trafficking may have gone to Middle East terrorists, officials say.

To date, only one of those cases -- a nationwide methamphetamine ring -- has been publicly identified. But in a recent interview, Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson said authorities are examining dozens of other domestic drug cases with potential links to Islamic terrorists.

The possible ties between drug rings and Middle East extremists, Hutchinson said, would be a result of U.S. efforts to shut down other potential financial sources of terrorism, such as phony companies or charities.

“Because there is pressure on the traditional funding sources ... pressure on the money flowing to these groups, that leaves them to be entrepreneurs in how they will come up with money for the different cells,” said Hutchinson, President Bush’s choice as undersecretary for border and transportation security in the new Homeland Security Department.

That, in turn, “leads them to various criminal activities [including] increased linkage to drug activity,” Hutchinson said. “That is the evidence we see and the trend that we see.”

Last month, three men who allegedly sought to trade half a ton of heroin and five tons of hashish for four shoulder-fired Stinger missiles were charged in San Diego. That alleged plot is an FBI case, and included plans to sell the missiles to the Al Qaeda network of terrorists, authorities said.

One Justice Department source said the plot may say less about Al Qaeda’s operation than the opportunism of extremists with access to large quantities of narcotics, since some authorities believe the three San Diego defendants would have sold the missiles to anyone for the right price.

The Stinger missile case is illustrative of a burgeoning nexus between illicit drugs and terrorism, said Bill Gore, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego office.

“It is a real problem,” he said. “There is no doubt that a lot of these groups have been supported by the sale of illegal narcotics ... [and] I think we will see more of these.”

With more than 360 agents in 56 countries, the DEA has a far better chance of uncovering the drug-terrorism connections than other agencies, including the FBI, Gore said. Even then, it is difficult to prove that money from drug rings is destined for extremists, he said.

“I think they have been at it a long time. And to the extent that narcotics trafficking has flourished overseas, it is an obvious source of funding,” Gore said. “The whole issue has not flown under our radar. It is just very difficult to penetrate these groups.”

In May, Hutchinson said the DEA had uncovered “significant evidence” that some of the millions of dollars collected by suppliers in a methamphetamine ring went to the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.

In addition, he said at the time, investigators had traced money to defendants’ families in Lebanon, Yemen and other Mideast countries, raising the possibility that illicit proceeds could have gone to other terrorist groups.

Then and now, Hutchinson has declined to provide any details about that evidence, and federal prosecutors have not charged any of the 300-plus people arrested in that 3-year-old investigation with anything but drug-related offenses.

But in the wake of the San Diego case, Hutchinson said his agency is moving forward on other drug investigations that could establish funding connections to terrorism.

“We have tried to get a better handle on the number of our cases that have both ... a drug connection [and] a terrorist link of some sort,” he said.

“We are not exaggerating. There is always the qualifier that drugs purchased in the United States may go to support terrorist or violent groups around the globe.”

While the 40-plus cases cited by the DEA could prove to have links to the Middle East, Hutchinson said the U.S. should not accept the “artificial distinction” of pursuing those terrorists and not others elsewhere in the world.

“Obviously in terms of threats to the United States, that should always be our focus,” he said.

“Al Qaeda has proven to be targeting the United States and its citizens, and that cannot be said for some South American groups.”

But that should not distract the DEA or other federal agencies from pursuing other potential links between drugs and terrorism, Hutchinson said.

“We are focused on Middle Eastern terrorist groups,” he said. “But if our drug sales in the United States fund the assassination of a judge in Colombia or a prosecutor in Mexico, should we not feel the same sense of responsibility” to act?

Last month, the U.S. attorney’s office in Houston unsealed an indictment charging that four members of a paramilitary group in Colombia sought to swap $25 million in cash and cocaine for five shipping containers of weapons.

The transaction, authorities alleged, was negotiated in Panama and would have given the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia shoulder-fired missiles along with 300,000 grenades, 9,000 rifles and machine guns, 300 pistols and 60 million rounds of ammunition.