Tag Archive for drugs

| August 21, 2012
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$150M Hezbollah-linked funds Seized by U.S.

US authorities say banking institution ‘plays key role in facilitating money laundering for Hezbollah’ so, funds wired by Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank were ‘frozen’.

By AFP

 

US authorities on Monday announced the seizure of $150 million allegedly linked to a scheme by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to launder proceeds from drug trafficking and other crimes.

Hezbollah Chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah Photo: Reuters

Hezbollah Chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah Photo: Reuters

The money came from a US bank account used by the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) to conduct US currency transactions, US Attorney Preet Bharara and US Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart said.

Washington considers the Shiite militant group a terrorist organization. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| August 8, 2012
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BUSTED: Israeli-Arab Hizbullah Cell had Bombs & Guns

Police & Shin-Bet arrest Israeli-Arab terrorists who had accumulated serious weaponry in preparation for an attack.

By Maayana Miskin

 

Police and the Shin Bet have nabbed an Israeli-Arab terrorist cell affiliated with Hizbullah. The cell was holding many weapons, including powerful bombs and M-16 rifles.

The bombs were smuggled into Israel from Lebanon, and were intended for use in terrorist attacks within Israel.

A total of 12 people were arrested in connection to the affair, and eight have been indicted. The case was initially under a gag order.

Most of the suspects are drug smugglers from the town of Ghajar in the north and terrorists from the Nazareth area in the Galilee. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| July 23, 2012
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Lebanese farmers engage army with mortar & machine-gun fire to protect their marijuana

No casualties as farmers defend their lucrative, yet illegal marijuana crop against Lebanese security forces.

By Reuters

Farmers armed with machine guns,rocket-propelled grenades and mortars forced government troops to abandon an operation to destroy their illegal cannabis crop in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Monday, a witness said.

Lebanse security forces.

Lebanese security forces. – Photo by Reuters

No casualties were reported in the exchange of fire but two security force vehicles were hit by bullets, the witness said.

During Lebanon’s civil war, which took place between 1975 and 1990, the fertile Bekaa Valley produced up to 1,000 tons of cannabis resin annually and 30 to 50 tons of opium, used to make heroin. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: ,
| July 4, 2012
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‘Beirut banks funneling illicit funds for Hezbollah’

Report says Hezbollah using Lebanon’s banks in money-laundering scheme, calls on firms to dump Lebanese debt.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK

 

In a move that could destabilize Beirut’s financial position, a US pressure group urged international financial firms on Tuesday to ditch Lebanese debt and securities, saying that Hezbollah is using Lebanon’s banks in a large scale money-laundering scheme that is also helping Iran evade banking sanctions.

Lebanon’s Central Bank in Beirut – Photo: Mohamed Azakit/Reuters

New York based United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) made public the results of a three-month, confidential investigation into the influence of Iran and Hezbollah on Lebanon’s banking system and its sovereign bond market.

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