Report: U.S. intel discloses details of Hezbollah financing in Colombia
For years, it has been known that Hezbollah used a combination of legitimate cover businesses, drug networks and other criminal enterprises in Colombia to raise funds for its terror operations.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFHezbollah(photo credit: REUTERS)
A joint US-DEA and Colombia intelligence report was recently leaked to Colombia outlets with new details of Hezbollah's criminal financing schemes in Colombia.For years, it has been known that Hezbollah used a combination of legitimate cover businesses, drug networks and other criminal enterprises in Colombia to raise funds for its terror operations.But in November and December, a book by Shurat Hadin Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and an article in Politico revealed a range of new details about how the US and Israeli intelligence communities tried to thwart Hezbollah's international terror financing schemes as well as complex counter-terrorism operations considered by the Obama administration.According to the Colombia outlets and Hebrew media reports on the issue, the new disclosures are more specific than past information in identifying exactly which legitimate and illegitimate businesses Hezbollah operated, how it procured forged Colombian documents for operatives and how it recruited Colombians to its cause.The reports also say that as much as 80% of the revenue from legitimate businesses were used for terror purposes.