In a chilling investigation report, the Bulgarian government is accused of having high-level links with the organised crime world and the report further highlighted that the organised crime funds are channelled to various terrorist organisations in Lebanon and the Middle East. According to the investigation by MPs into corruption in the Interior Ministry,
Bulgarian crime groups engaged in trafficking...drugs sometimes work together with Arab citizens linked to terrorist organisations. We can make the conclusion that part of the money accumulated from drug trafficking is used to finance the work of terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Christian militias.
The report proves the dangerous nexus between organised crime and terrorism right around the world. This particular Bulgarian report is just the tip of the iceberg as international terror groups take the help of the organised crime world to finance their respective causes. In a report late last year, Italian investigators confirmed that Al-Qaeda was using the Naples-based Camorra mafia to move its operatives through Europe to safe houses in cities such as Paris, London, Rome, Madrid, Berlin, etc. The Camorra-Al Qaeda alliance is a growing proof of an increasing link-up between international terrorism and organised crime. This nexus has truly presented a serious challenge to law-enforcement and security agencies across the world. To druglords and criminals, dealing with terrorists is just another business proposition but the illicit funds are helping international terror to spread its uncompromising web across the globe.
The FARC, Colombia’s largest guerilla group runs its revolution against Bogota parallel to a lucrative illegal drug trade. With an estimated annual profit of $400 million, the FARC is suspected of exchanging drugs for arms with international terror groups. The age of globalisation has certainly aided this nexus with the help of concepts such as free trade, economic integration, expansion of technology, etc.
Drug trafficking is not the only illicit sector in which the mafia and the terrorists collaborate. Kidnapping, human trafficking, counterfeiting money and CDs, extortion are other lucrative ways of making money. According to Arnaud de Borchgrave, head of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Transnational Threat Initiative,
The most profitable form of human smuggling for the terror-organized crime alliance is sex slavery. They come from eastern Europe and from as far as China and Burma. Go to Liege and Mons and Antwerp. You find them everywhere. And the profits kick back.
The nexus between international terror groups and organised crime is set to change the pattern of the war on terror, security experts believe. The emphasis will now be more on the financial contacts between terror outfits and the mafia with various corrupt governments around the world and leading businessmen coming under the security scanner. The Bulgarian investigation report is set to open up a pandora’s box when it comes to tackling both international mafia and terrorism.
Source: Timesonline
Comments
A fine write up! But why link the organised crime sector only to Islamic Terror? its just ubiquituous and many a time if they are foiled up, they reveal the government, any country for that matter and of course its agencies for the reasons well known to them. Its a vicious circle as well.
The war on terror has already affect lots of people. President Bush just made a surprise visit to Iraq, to give a press conference over the accords that were signed putting the U.S. on a timetable for withdrawal from the country. During the press conference, a journalist named Muntadhar al-Zeidi took off his shoes and hurled them at the President. He exclaimed ”This is your farewell kiss, you dog!” just as he hurled his shoes at the President. In the Muslim world, throwing your shoes at someone is about the worst insult you can give to someone. Just to give you an idea, before the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled, and during and after, the statue was pelted with numerous pairs of shoes. The idea here is that they only do it to people they really hate. People from around the region have been hailing the actions of al-Zeidi as heroic, even though Bush laughed it off as a ”sign of a free society” – kind of like having a bevy of financial options, such as payday loans. He was quickly arrested, and taken into custody, and the footwear was taken into the evidence locker. He currently awaits trial. Click to read more on Payday Loans.