Colombia drug ring may link to Hezbollah

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — U.S. and Colombian investigators have dismantled an international cocaine-smuggling and money-laundering ring that allegedly used part of its profits to finance Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite militia, officials said Tuesday.

After a two-year investigation, authorities have arrested at least 36 suspects in recent days, including an accused Lebanese kingpin in Bogotá. Chekry Harb, who used the alias "Taliban," acted as the hub of an unusual alliance between South American cocaine traffickers and Middle Eastern militants, Colombian investigators alleged.

Authorities accuse Harb of being a "world-class money-launderer" whose ring washed hundreds of millions of dollars a year, from Panama to Hong Kong, while paying a percentage to Hezbollah, which the United States and Israel designate as a terror group. Harb was charged with drug-related crimes in a sealed indictment filed in Miami in July.

Contact with Hezbollah

The suspects allegedly worked with a Colombian cartel and a paramilitary group to smuggle cocaine to the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Harb traveled extensively to Lebanon, Syria and Egypt and was in phone contact with Hezbollah figures, according to Colombian officials.

"The profits from the sales of drugs went to finance Hezbollah," said Gladys Sanchez, lead investigator for the special prosecutor's office here, in an interview. "This is an example of how narco-trafficking is a theme of interest to all criminal organizations, the FARC, the paramilitaries and terrorists."

FARC is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a guerrilla group.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration led the investigation, playing a central role in nailing down the alleged Hezbollah connection, Sanchez said. But U.S. officials in Bogotá and Washington declined to discuss details of their evidence.

Iran, a longtime Hezbollah sponsor, and donations from the Lebanese diaspora are two sources for a multimillion-dollar budget that pays for the militia's armed and political wings and for social projects such as hospitals in Beirut. But investigations have shown that Hezbollah also funds itself through drug dealing, arms trafficking, contraband smuggling and other rackets in the Americas, Africa and elsewhere.

Western anti-terror agents have expressed concern about signs of an increasing Hezbollah presence in South America. The militia is accused of two major anti-Jewish bombings in Argentina in the 1990s. In June, the U.S. Treasury Department designated two Venezuelans of Lebanese descent, one a diplomat, as Hezbollah financiers and supporters.

Operation Titan

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's alliance with Iran raises fears that Venezuela could become a base for Hezbollah activity, according to U.S. and Israeli anti-terror officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity. Venezuela also serves as the corridor for a third of Colombian cocaine smuggled to the U.S. and Europe, allegedly including some loads moved by the Harb group, according to Colombian investigators.

The case unveiled Tuesday began as a money-laundering investigation, but agents discovered the alleged links between Harb and Hezbollah operatives as they followed the money. Harb's group allegedly paid Hezbollah 12 percent of its profits, much of it delivered in cash, investigators said.

Operation Titan, a two-year case worked by Colombian and U.S. agents that has led to more than 130 arrests overall and the seizure of $23 million, Sanchez said. Investigators deployed 370 wiretaps and monitored 700,000 conversations.

"This case was brought about by putting undercover agents into the money-laundering cycle," said a U.S. government official who was not authorized to comment publicly. "This has given us a window into the worldwide financial enterprise that, by dotted lines, links traffickers from South America and the United States to West Africa, Europe and Hong Kong."

The drugs were allegedly sent via Panama, Venezuela and Guatemala to the U.S., the Middle East and Europe. In June, Spanish police found half a ton of cocaine concealed in a shipping container in the northwestern port of Vigo. Much of the cocaine headed for the Middle East entered through Jordan.

Front companies

Earlier this year, Chinese police captured Oscar Cano Alazate, a Colombian accused of setting up dozens of front companies in Hong Kong to launder money. Hong Kong and Panama's free-trade zone served as centers for a scheme whereby drug cash coming from the U.S. is funneled to companies that use it to buy merchandise, which is shipped to Colombia and sold to be turned back into cash.

The organization also used human couriers, fake businesses, international transfers and real-estate transactions to launder the money in other locations, including Africa and Canada, Colombian officials said.

On Oct. 13, Colombian police arrested Harb, the other accused boss, Ali Mohamad Rahim, and Harb's brother, Zacaria, both Lebanese immigrants who had been living here. Colombian officials said the three are among 15 of the suspects who will be extradited to the United States.

Harb's key suppliers here included leaders of the so-called Office of Envigado, according to Colombian authorities. The paramilitary drug trafficking organization headed by Diego Murillo, or Don Berna, and other former foot soldiers of Medellin cartel boss Pablo Escobar has an international reach. In June, Murillo was extradited to the U.S. along with 13 other paramilitary leaders on trafficking charges.