13/05/2007 00:00:00
Europe: :Cannabis cash funds Islamist terrorism
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Cannabis smokers are unwittingly funding Islamist extremists linked to
terror attacks in Spain, Morocco and Algeria, according to a joint
investigation by the Spanish and French secret services. The finding
will be seized on both by campaigners for a harsher clampdown on
cannabis and by those who argue that legalisation is the only way to end
a petty dealing trend that is dragging growing numbers of teenagers into
crime.
The investigation by the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia and the
Renseignements Generaux was launched after Spanish police found that the
Islamists behind the March 2004 bombings in Madrid bought their
explosives from former miners in return for blocks of hashish. The
bombings claimed 191 lives.
Spain's role as a transit point for drugs was highlighted last week when
Madrid hosted the US Drug Enforcement Agency's annual conference.
Experts heard not only that North African hashish was funding terrorism
in Europe, but also that West Africa had become a new hub for South
American cocaine shipments bound for Europe.
Morocco is the world's leading cannabis exporter, with an annual crop
estimated to be worth at least £2bn. Last month, the Moroccan navy
seized three tonnes of Europe-bound hashish off the Mediterranean port
of Nador. The same week, Spanish coastguards seized 4.3 tonnes of
Moroccan resin off Ibiza.
The joint secret service investigation finds that hashish is part of a
'complex financing network' serving the Algeria-based Salafist Group for
Preaching and Combat, affiliated since last year to al-Qaeda. The group
claimed responsibility for two bombings in Algiers on 11 April that
killed 30 people and left 200 injured.
French terrorism expert Dominique Thomas said the link between drug
dealing and Islamic terrorism was not new: 'The issue stands at the core
of divisions within al-Qaeda between those who believe that the end
justifies the means and others who argue that drugs are incompatible
with Islam.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2078419,00.html
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=12549
Author:
The Observer via UKCIA
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