Including, evidently, at least one supporter of Hizballah.
There is, of course, a close link between jihad finance and drug trafficking. The Taliban made its living off drugs when it was in power, and probably still does. Several years ago, Abdul Rashid, a Taliban anti-drug official, explained that his job was to limit hashish use by Muslims, but said: "Opium is permissible because it is consumed by kafirs in the West and not by Muslims or Afghans."
"12 arrested in counter-terrorism and drug-trafficking investigation," by Greg Krikorian for the Los Angeles Times (thanks to Sr. Soph):
A dozen people were arrested Tuesday on charges of narcotics trafficking, money laundering and selling counterfeit goods after a two-year counter-terrorism and drug investigation centered in Los Angeles' downtown garment district.The focus of the federal investigation was Ali Khalil Elreda, 32, who was detained at Los Angeles International Airport last year, accused of trying to smuggle $120,000 in money orders and cashier's checks, hidden in a child's toy, to Lebanon, according to an indictment and an affidavit filed in the case.
In 2005, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department official showed a Senate committee a picture of a tattooed shop owner who had been arrested the year before on charges of selling counterfeit high-fashion merchandise. The tattoo was a symbol of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed guerrillas operating in Lebanon.
In his testimony, Lt. John Stedman, a top supervisor in the department's emergency operations bureau, did not identify the shop owner. Stedman was not involved in the most recent investigation.
But two law enforcement sources said Tuesday that the merchant was Elreda.
Elreda and Hussein Saleh Saleh, 37, both of Bell, were charged in one of two indictments returned in the case with conspiring to smuggle cash out of the United States.
Five years ago, in an interview with The Times, Asa Hutchinson, then the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said authorities were examining dozens of domestic drug cases with potential links to Islamic terrorists, including a methamphetamine ring allegedly tied to Hezbollah.
During the recent Los Angeles investigation, law enforcement authorities allegedly seized 30 kilograms of cocaine and counterfeit clothing worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Others arrested Tuesday included Elreda's brother, Mohamad, 25, of Bell; his sister, Susanne, 34, of Smyrna, Ga.; Robert Bell, 36, of Corona; Dalisa Johnson, 37, of Corona; Moussa Matar, 48, of Cudahy; Matar's sons, Mohamad and Ali, both 28, of Cudahy; Juan Gonzalez, 26, of Lynwood; Frankie Higuera, 24, of Downey; and Crystal Hill, 25, of Hawthorne.
What's interesting to note...
remember the drug comercials that said basically "if you support a drug habit, you're likely supporting terrorism"...and were so relentlessly excoriated until they were forcibly taken off the air?
Forget the fact it turned out to be true
...what I want to know is this...
(rhetorical)
who were those excoriators that had such a hissy fit over those commercials, and where are they now?
Interesting turn of events, indeed.
I am in an undisclosed rural area but get Atlanta TV news. When the local cops there arrested two guys with truckloads of $900 jeans etc. that were counterfit in a nice quite residental neighborhood, it was not clear whether the neighbors reported them but they said on camera they thought something was going on there.
The news announced the names of the perps, both islamic and my husband and I immediatly profiled them as having Jihadist connections.
In the last two days it has been announced thay are part of this group.
Don't buy designer jeans. You may be profiting and financing Jihad.
Don't forget Emory U. is near Atlanta.
Aunt Bea,
Im starting to get worried about Atlanta. Thankfully Im 4 hours away.
Now let's see how this all started and is continuing.
The forces like Muslim Brotherhood and Al Quaeda travel the world and identify the areas with mixed muslim and non-muslim population where instability can be easily provoked.
They incite the conflict after muslim irritate other population to a degree where they start being slaughtered, but they don't put up a great deal of fight. At this moment the muslim in the region plea to the UN, EU and USA for mercy and help and the natural outcome is that the Western world receives a few thousands of sleeping warriors as a not so free gift.
It's so easy to manipulate the system for the jihadis, that it's not even funny anymore. Haven't we figured this one out yet? We should. I envision the rallies across North America with just one slogan: NO MORE REFUGEES! God help us!
Muslims have an "interesting" attitude to narcotics. The whole time I was in Egypt, hashish was EVERYWHERE. Smoking it is actually considered a sign of "sophistication," for some reason. Go figure.
' ... but said: "Opium is permissible because it is consumed by kafirs in the West and not by Muslims or Afghans." '
By that reasoning, supermarket cashiers should have no problem handling pork or alcohol.
Charles, "No more MUSLIM refugees."
Several years ago, Abdul Rashid, a Taliban anti-drug official, explained that his job was to limit hashish use by Muslims, but said: "Opium is permissible because it is consumed by kafirs in the West and not by Muslims or Afghans."
......................................
I was never quite sure what the Taliban take on drugs was, since they both seemed to crack down on opium growing--often in the most draconian ways--and yet clearly used drug revenues to fund jihad. The above statement seems to state the position clearly. Thanks.
Jcom wrote:
What's interesting to note...
remember the drug comercials that said basically "if you support a drug habit, you're likely supporting terrorism"...and were so relentlessly excoriated until they were forcibly taken off the air?
..............
Excellent observation, Jcom. Full disclosure: I used to smoke a fair amount of marijuanna when I was first in college. I never purchased it myself (this is not a dodge--it's true), but my boyfriend at the time certainly did, and it was widely available at most parties.
I began to get more and more discomfited about where this stuff came from. I knew there was a lot of involvement by organized crime and drug gangs, especially increasingly violent ones such as MS13.
When I started declining that passed joint, I was rather surprised that it made quite a few people angry--it seemed to me out of all proportion. They didn't like my reasons and thought I was just listening to anti-drug propaganda.
Most had the fantasy that this stuff was all grown by blissful ex-hippies in Mendecino or Maui. I have no idea where they thought harder drugs came from.
Bad as organized crime is, terrorism is worse. By governmental aid to terror-funding governments and organizations, allowing untrammeled immigration, and being huge drug-consuming nations, the West is funding its own destruction at the hands of jihadists.
the suspects are examples of the exquisite moral character of those who follow this socalled religion. ... help your enemy implode; worry not for your enemy's wellbeing... and: makeabuck if you can.
"By that reasoning, supermarket cashiers should have no problem handling pork or alcohol".
Good point, Jay.
Drug Trafficking - Pork + Jihad - Alcohol + Wife beating - Creative arts + Stampeding around a ancient occultic icon in Mecca = One oddball Murder Cult
The position of no more muslim refugees as opposed to no more refugees is arguable.
If we stopped accepting muslim refugees, the result would be quite obvious. But if we stopped accepting refugees period, they would have had no other choice than to work and fight for better life where they are instead of bailing out at our cost.
Look at this: the Gipsies are christians, but Italy is struggling to cope with their influx and the crime wave it generated.
The cost and benefit of both approaches have to be debated and researched.
But it should not be disputed, that much more discretion should be used in accepting the refugees in North America.
If you do business with them (especially buying drugs) you will get what you richly deserve. Their ethics leave much to be desired..to say the least.
Thanks Robert for the information.
Islam is the opium of the terrorists.
Why is it permissible to grow and sell haram items (opium) to infidels, but it's not permissible for infidels to carry haram items (alcohol) on muslim-provided transportation?
It's ok graven...it happens.
I brought up the link between terrorism & these gangs, most of which are heavily affiliated with this mexican separatist movement and their fictional claims to some country that never existed called "aztlan"...and loosely affiliated with the drog lords who don't care either way-they just want to sell their wares. A conglomeration of affiliations, some-tightly, some-loosely, but all are involved.
...it took 2 years for the FBI to come to grips with it, but...hey, better late than never. They were on the radar years before even I brought it up to them.
It brings me to another point...
the ONLY "war on...?..." that's a fictional joke is this "war on drugs". Unless we're ready to literally KILL drug dealers (see Singapore drug laws), it's a joke- a REAL waste of time and money...but that's another issue entirely.