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# Paying for Terror. How Jihadist Groups Are Using Organized-Crime Tactics and Profits to Finance Attacks

(U.S. News) David E. Kaplan - Growing numbers of terrorist groups have come to rely on the tactics - and profits - of organized criminal activity to finance their operations. "Transnational crime is converging with the terrorist world," says Robert Charles, the State Department's former point man on narcotics. "The world is seeing the birth of a new hybrid of organized-crime-terrorist organizations," says Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Terrorist organizations are trafficking in narcotics, counterfeit goods, and illegal aliens. The terrorist gang behind the train bombings in Madrid last year financed itself almost entirely with money earned from drugs. Federal investigators have uncovered repeated scams in the U.S. involving supporters of Hamas and Hizballah, and have traced tens of thousands of dollars back to those groups in the Middle East. The list of crimes includes credit card fraud, identity theft, even the theft and resale of infant formula. Some, involving cigarette smuggling and counterfeit products, have earned their organizers millions of dollars.
2005-12-02 00:00:00
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