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→Criminal funding
<ref>http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/27/hezbollah-uses-mexican-drug-routes-into-us/print/</ref><ref>http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/hezbollah-using-drug-smuggling-routes/story.aspx?guid=%7BA14CB7E3-86EE-4ECE-A417-E31BF77E65FD%7D&dist=msr_2</ref>
<ref>http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/27/hezbollah-uses-mexican-drug-routes-into-us/print/</ref><ref>http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/hezbollah-using-drug-smuggling-routes/story.aspx?guid=%7BA14CB7E3-86EE-4ECE-A417-E31BF77E65FD%7D&dist=msr_2</ref>
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote an article on Apr 10, 2009, "The Hezbollah threat: It's here, now." <ref>http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_620146.html</ref>
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote an article on Apr 10, 2009, "The Hezbollah threat: It's here, now." <ref>http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_620146.html</ref>
===Money laundering===
From approximately Jan. 1, 2007, to early 2011, at least $329 million was transferred by wire from the Lebanonese Canadian Bank, the Hassan Ayash Exchange Company, the Ellissa Exchange Company and other Lebanese financial institutions, including Middle East and Africa Bank, the Federal Bank of Lebanon and BLOM Bank, to the United States for the purchase and shipment of used cars. The car buyers in the United States typically had little or no property or assets other than the bank accounts used to receive the overseas wire transfers. The cars were primarily shipped to Cotonou, [[Benin]], where they were housed and sold from large car parks, including one owned by the Ellissa Group, a subsidiary of Ellissa Holding.
A significant portion of the cash proceeds from the car sales was transported to Lebanon by a Hezbollah-controlled system of money couriers, cash smugglers, hawaladars and currency brokers. A network of money couriers controlled by Oussama Salhab, an alleged Hezbollah operative living in [[Togo]], transported tens of millions of dollars and [[Euro]]s from Benin to Lebanon through Togo and [[Ghana]]. Salhab and his relatives also own and control Cybamar Swiss GMBH LCC, a transportation company based in [[Michigan]] that was frequently used to ship cars to West Africa, as well as other entities involved in the scheme. Cash transported from West Africa was often received at the [[Beirut]] airport, where Hezbollah security safeguarded its passage to its final destination.
This same used car, Hezbollah-controlled money laundering infrastructure is used to conceal and funnel hundreds of millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds from West Africa back to Lebanon. Ayman Joumaa’s drug trafficking organization, which operates in Lebanon, West Africa, Panama and Colombia, launders as much as $200 million in proceeds per month, through various channels, including bulk cash smuggling operations and Lebanese exchange houses. Joumaa’s organization uses Hizballah couriers to transport and launder narcotics proceeds, and pays fees to Hezbollah operatives to facilitate the laundering of narcotics proceeds.
==See also==
==See also==