Cocaine trade exacerbates money laundering in West Africa – UN Chief

The global cocaine trade, which is estimated at $85 million, is exacerbating money laundering in West Africa, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, United Nations Secretary-General has indicated.

Whiles every $1 billion of pure cocaine trafficked through West Africa earns more than ten times as much when sold on the streets of Europe, the trade is also fuelling political instability threatens the sub-region’s security, Mr Ban said.

In addition, the 61 billion dollars annual markets for Afghan opiates are used in funding insurgency, international terrorism and wider destabilization.

These were contained in a message read on behalf of the UN Chief at a ceremony held on Tuesday at Wa in the Upper West Region to mark this year’s international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking.

Mr Ban said because the threat was so urgent, the UN had established a task force to develop a system-wide strategy to coordinate and strengthen the responses to illicit drugs and organized crime by building them into all UN peacekeeping, peace building, security development and disarmament activities.

In that way, the UN could integrate the fight against drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime into the global security and development agenda, he explained.

He said this year’s international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking was an opportunity to highlight the importance of addressing the threats through the rule of law in the provision of health service.

“Drugs use at its core is a health issue while drug dependence is a disease and not a crime. The real criminals are the drug traffickers.

“But the supply is only half of the equation and unless we reduce the demand for illicit drugs we can never fully tackle cultivation, production or trafficking”, Mr Ban said.

In a speech read on his behalf, Naval Captain Rtd Asase Gyimah, Board Chairman of Narcotics Control Board said the Board was collaborating more with other agencies for drug law enforcement and advocated the reduction of the drug trade by exchanging ideas and sharing intelligence.

Alhaji Issahaque Salia, Upper West Regional Minister said the government was more determined now than ever to put drug traffickers and users out of business, while at the same time reducing drug related crimes.

Government was also committed to resourcing not only the Narcotic Control Board but also all security agencies to fight the drug menace.

Source: GNA

Terror Cell Uncovered in Canada

Three people have been arrested in Canada as part of an alleged hometown plot.

Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, residents of Canadian capital Ottawa were arrested on Wednesday and made a brief court appearance on Thursday. Police have said that they expect more arrests.

The Toronto Star reported on a third arrest in the case, this time of a man who appeared on “Canadian Idol”, Canada’s version of the popular television program “American Idol”, in 2008.

Khuram Sher, 28, was arrested in London, Ontario, in connection to the terror plot. Sher is a 2005 graduate of the McGill medical school in Montreal. In 2006, he visited Pakistan during relief efforts after an earthquake in Kashmir. He auditioned unsuccessfully for “Canadian Idol” in 2008, where he told judges he was originally from Pakistan and came to Canada in 2005.

The suspects are charged in connection with a plot to make and detonate improvised explosive devices as well as financing terror groups operating in Afghanistan.

Canadian police said on Thursday that the terrorist cell was based in Ottawa and had international connections. The cell was only reportedly months away from exploding bombs on Canadian soil, said a senior police official.

Police allege that the three men have been conspiring since February 2008 with three others in a terrorist plot traced back to Iran, Pakistan and Dubai.

Chief Superintendent Serge Therriault, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police chief of criminal operations said police seized more than 50 electronic circuit boards that could be used to produce improvised explosive devices, similar to lethal bombs that have been involved in the majority of deaths and injuries of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

“This group posed a real and serious threat to the citizens of the national capital region and Canada’s national security,” Therriault said.

Alizadeh faces charges of making or possessing explosive devices for terrorist purposes and terrorist financing. According to police, he is an active member of an unnamed terrorist group.

“Part of the decision to make the arrests at this time was to prevent the suspect from providing financial support to terrorist counterparts for the purchase of weapons which would in turn be used against coalition forces and our troops (in Afghanistan),” said Therriault.

Alizadeh and Misbahuddin were remanded in custody until they make a video court appearance next Wednesday.

Sher’s relatives reacted in shock to his arrest. "He was always joking around. He was a contestant on Canadian Idol. He's such a great guy," said Mariam Wasty, Sher’s cousin, to Postmedia News. "I don't know why he'd be connected to this."

Khurram Sher's uncle, Rafat Syed said: "Oh my god, impossible. He's not that type of person. You must be joking.”

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday that terror networks have a global reach: “They exist not only in remote countries but through globalization and the Internet, they have links in our country and all through the world,” he said.

Source: IsraelNationalNews

'Afghan's New Ansari Exchange was laundering Taliban money'

Afghanistan's largest 'hawala' money transfer business, whose Kabul office was shuttered following a raid by an anti-graft task force, was helping to launder profits from the illicit opium trade and moving the cash earned by Taliban through extortion and drug trafficking, a media report said on Thursday.

Citing US and Afghan officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that there were links between the money transfers by the New Ansari Exchange and some of the most powerful political and business figures in the country, including relatives of President Hamid Karzai.

The Kabul office of New Ansari Exchange was shuttered after a January raid by US-trained agents of an anti-corruption taskforce.

Armed with thousands of records seized from the building, investigators have been digging into the movement of billions of dollars in and out of Afghanistan, the report said.

It said the New Ansari probe is threatening to disrupt relations between the Afghan President and his US allies.

Last week, Karzai took more direct control of the taskforce that staged the raid, the Sensitive Investigative Unit, and another US-advised anti-corruption group, the Major Crimes Task Force. He ordered a handpicked commission to review scores of past and current anti-corruption inquests.

Senior US military and civilian officials with direct knowledge of the events view Karzai's move as an effort to protect those close to him and, in the process, to quash the investigation into New Ansari and describe it as a blow to American-backed anti-corruption efforts, the report said.

Members of the Sensitive Investigative Unit are vetted and trained by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Major Crimes Task Force is trained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Source: Zeenews

Where United States stands in the war against terror

Since 9/11, Americans have been rightly concerned about how the numbers stack up in the struggle against terrorism. Whether one calls it a war or something else, a sense of direction is not just necessary but vital.

-Along those lines, a new report — "Are We Winning?" — by the bipartisan American Security Project (www.americansecurityproject.org), presented at a recent Capitol Hill briefing, raises provocative questions and contributes to the discussion in several ways.

First, it helps us understand the threat; indeed, this is where the report provides its best advice. The following points reveal volumes about the terrorism challenge:

-"The threat is very real and likely to endure."

-"Any progress is likely to be incremental and will require years of prudence and consistency to institutionalize."

-"Our adversaries are strategically savvy and will continually adapt to our actions to achieve their goals. Complacency can quickly turn into catastrophe."

I would describe the situation even more bluntly. The terrorist threat is open-ended and will never entirely disappear. In other words, we can talk about winning in a relative sense, but there will be no final victory. America's best efforts will diminish terrorism, not eradicate it.

Second, "Are We Winning?" examines terrorism in the context of 10 criteria. In four of its categories, color-coded green, the study determines we are making gains against al-Qaida and associated movements. In four additional categories, color-coded yellow, it finds the data uncertain. And in two other categories, color- coded red, it indicates a lack of progress.

Let us consider them one at a time, starting with the most positive, the green category. Although the report acknowledges that prominent figures such as Osama bin Laden in al-Qaida and related groups remain free, it cheers the fact that many of those organizations' leaders are on the run. It also notes international cooperation is improving.

Well and good, but it is worth emphasizing that "on the run" does not mean al-Qaida's leaders lack resolve or the potential to reorganize and rebound. Further, international cooperation still falls far short of what is required. Too many governments wink at terrorist behavior within their borders.

The report's yellow category then indicates that in areas such as terrorist financing, the status of al-Qaida associated movements, and public attitudes in the Muslim world and the United States, it is hard to determine if progress has occurred. That finding speaks for itself, while suggesting opportunities for Washington to take innovative, proactive steps.

Next, we come to the red category, which bemoans the rise of "Islamist terrorism around the world," along with increases in violence in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia. As if that were not enough, the report also points out the danger of ungoverned spaces in Africa, Asia and elsewhere.

Again, opportunity beckons. It is especially important to deal with the virtually limitless danger of ungoverned spaces. We know from past experience in Afghanistan, for example, that failed or failing states provide a breeding ground for violent movements.

Finally, the study makes several recommendations that deserve a place in the U.S. counter-terrorism conversation: that the most effective way to discredit al-Qaida and its cohorts is to challenge their claim to be defenders of the Muslim world.

Beyond that, we must maintain a long-term view and insist on perpetual vigilance, for the adversary is persistent and creative.

by John C. Bersia, who won a Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing for the Orlando Sentinel in 2000, is the special assistant to the president for global perspectives at the University of Central Florida. Readers may send him e-mail at johncbersia@msn.com .

Source: SouthBendTribune

Saudi Arabia: Cabinet looks at money laundering

Monday’s Cabinet meeting, chaired by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, resulted in approval for measures to address issues concerning money laundering and terrorism funding as well as housing.


The King briefed the session, held at Al-Yamama Palace in the capital, on the most significant communications of the past week, including the visits to the Kingdom of the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir.
King Abdullah also briefed the Cabinet on communications he received from the President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and his reception of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Dawoud Awghlou and the Second Vice President of Afghanistan, Abdul Karim Khalili.

Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja released a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) saying that the meeting looked at reports on developments in the Arab and Islamic world as well as wider international affairs and discussed the Kingdom’s economy following the recent announcement of the national budget.

Cabinet approval was given to authorize Prince Naif, Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, to sign with foreign authorities a memorandum of understanding on collaboration in investigation into money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Measures were also approved following a study on providing land grants to Saudi nationals to facilitate the acquisition of homes. The measures included joining the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs program to the Iskan housing program to guarantee citizens housing, the provision of land to the Housing Commission to build homes for nationals in conformity with regulations and government-planned zones, provide all services stipulated for by the budget, and help beneficiaries of housing projects integrate with the rest of society by ensuring that projects are evenly distributed across cities. Cabinet approval was further given for the proposed Board of Directors at the Balad Al-Ameen Construction Development Company for the period of three years and its members from government, private and other sectors.

Similar approval was given for the restructuring of the Board of Directors of the Jeddah Development and Construction Company.

Source: The Saudi Gazette

FBI agents in town help fight cross-border crime

By Marie Magleby, Special to Gulf News

Published: May 31, 2008, 23:44

Abu Dhabi: Gary Price and Ernest Herbert carry FBI badges, but their job descriptions are significantly different here than in the US.

"I have no law enforcement authority here," Special Agent Price said.

Instead, the duo are go-betweens for local and US law enforcement. He said, "We work closely with UAE government officials to share information that protects the two countries."

They also offer training at the request of local authorities. The training involves many aspects of law enforcement, including ways to combat white-collar crime, violent crime, forensics and counter-terrorism.

In addition, the agents coordinate the Middle East Law Enforcement Training Centre in Dubai, which offers week-long courses for law enforcement personnel from around the Gulf.

Local authorities choose the topics and dates, and FBI specialists come from the US to teach the courses. Since its establishment in 2001, the centre, co-sponsored by the FBI and Dubai police, has conducted about 40 courses dealing with money laundering, computer crimes, intellectual property rights, kidnapping, auto theft, homicide, financial institution fraud, terrorist financing, hostage negotiations and more.

The globalisation of crime, especially financial and internet crime, places the agents in a pivotal position. "The UAE is an important crossroads for business and, as a result, also for crime," Price said of the potential for fraud or abuse in the banking system. With the help of local officials, they routinely seek to investigate bank records and track financial transactions linked to the US.

When internet crime is traced back to the US, the agents are also able to help. Just months ago, a prominent UAE citizen received a cyber threat from a location in the US.

Local law enforcement officials contacted Price and Herbert, who enlisted agents in the US to conduct an investigation. The man was arrested, charged and is now facing imprisonment.

About working with local authorities, Price said: "I truly enjoy working with the Emiratis. They are professional and very gracious." There are, however, obstacles. According to Price, a federal law that regulates "international judicial cooperation" is often misinterpreted to be a roadblock to investigations. "There is not a timely, quick way for law enforcement response because of the bureaucratic process," he said.

Law enforcement mechanisms do not always translate across cultures and borders, Herbert said in a similar vein. "Things are run differently here than in the US, so we have to do things differently."

When FBI agents are on international assignment, they assume the title of Legal Attaché in their respective embassies. Price and Herbert are successors to three other agents since the Abu Dhabi office opened in December 2003. They cover both the UAE and Oman. In the region, the FBI also has agents posted in Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

During his tenure, former FBI director Louis Freeh pushed to expand the bureau's international presence. It now has offices in 62 countries. This worldwide network of agents is a necessary countermeasure against the growing nexus of international crime. "Just as there are no borders for crime and terrorism, there can be no borders for justice and the rule of law," current director Robert Mueller told the US Senate in March.

Progress

"Twenty years ago, the idea of regularly communicating with our law enforcement counterparts around the world was as foreign as the internet or the mobile phone. Today, advances in technology, travel and communication have broken down walls between countries, continents and individuals," Mueller added. Price and Herbert embody this prog-ress.

Mueller became the dir-ector one week prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The FBI began as a special agent force in 1908 and received its current title in 1935. Since its genesis, the FBI has seen its share of success and failure. Though it has successfully foiled numerous plots, conspiracies and espionage attempts, it has been criticised for shoddy investigation tactics and ignoring intelligence reports that could have prevented past attacks. Regardless, it has survived a century of challenges.

- The writer is a journalist based in Abu Dhabi.

Source: GulfNews

Senior Al Qaeda member killed in U.S. raid in Syria, officials say

Abu Ghadiyah was a key player in funneling foreign fighters to Iraq, a U.S. official says.

By Greg Miller and Josh Meyer
October 28, 2008

U.S. commandos crossing into Syria in an unprecedented raid this weekend killed a senior Al Qaeda associate accused of funneling fighters, weapons and cash to the insurgency in Iraq, U.S. officials familiar with the operation said Monday.

Abu Ghadiyah, the chief of a Syrian smuggling network who was killed in the controversial operation Sunday, was "one of the most prominent, if not the most prominent, facilitators of foreign fighters going into Iraq for Al Qaeda," a senior U.S. official said.

The raid was the latest sign that the U.S. is now willing to mount attacks in sovereign nations in pursuit of insurgent groups operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as those who support them. Last month, U.S. special operations forces carried out a similar raid in the tribal border region of Pakistan, drawing loud criticism from the Pakistani public and senior government officials in Islamabad, the capital.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said the U.S. committed "criminal and terrorist aggression" by conducting a raid in which seven civilians died, including three children, a woman and a fisherman.

Two U.S. helicopters flew about five miles into Syria, he said, with one landing at a farm while the second provided cover. A villager told the Associated Press he saw at least two men taken into custody by U.S. forces and whisked away by helicopter. He spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he feared for his life.

U.S. officials did not say how many people died in the raid.

Abu Ghadiyah, an Iraqi native believed to be in his late 20s, has for several years been a key figure in the flow of foreign fighters and weapons into Iraq, American officials said.

"He comes from a family of smugglers," said the senior U.S. official. "He seems to have turned the family business toward the movement of terrorists, explosives, weapons, etc., into Iraq."

That official, along with others, spoke on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the operation.

Other than reporting Abu Ghadiyah's death, U.S. officials offered few details about the raid. Pentagon officials declined to comment. The rationale for using commandos was unclear.

Since the terrorist attacks on America in 2001, the United States has carried out dozens of missile strikes, mostly in Pakistan, but also in Yemen and elsewhere, aimed at killing Al Qaeda operatives. However, almost all of those operations have relied on CIA-operated Predator drones firing Hellfire antitank missiles.

The use of U.S. soldiers carries significantly greater risk and often leads to diplomatic strain, as has been the case with Pakistan.

U.S. counter-terrorism experts described Abu Ghadiyah, who is from Anbar province in western Iraq, as the head of a successful terrorist financial network supporting Iraq's Sunni Arab-led insurgency and a close associate of Al Qaeda in Iraq leaders.

"He's the classic example of a terrorist facilitator and financier," said Matthew Levitt, who from 2005 to early 2007 helped oversee a U.S. government crackdown on Abu Ghadiyah's financial network while deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the Treasury Department.

However, Abu Ghadiyah's death is unlikely to decimate the network because of its strong funding streams and because other members, including a brother, have been active, said Levitt, now with the Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington-based think tank.

The Treasury Department had previously imposed financial sanctions on Abu Ghadiyah and family members, saying they facilitated and controlled the flow of money, weapons, terrorists and other resources through Syria to Iraq.

The effectiveness of such financial enforcement actions has been questioned. The actions target militants and those providing financial or material support, freezing any known assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting U.S. firms and individuals from doing business with them.

U.S. officials said Abu Ghadiyah, a nickname for Badran Turki Hishan Mazidih, was appointed by former Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Zarqawi to be the group's Syrian commander for logistics in 2004. After Zarqawi's death in 2006, Abu Ghadiyah began working for the new leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub Masri, according to U.S. officials.

Abu Ghadiyah provided and arranged false passports, weapons, guides, safe houses and allowances to foreign terrorists preparing to enter Iraq, Treasury officials said.

U.S. officials maintain that Syria has long functioned as a hub for terrorist financing in Iraq, coordinating the movement of recruits and money between cells in Europe and Ansar al Islam training camps in northern Iraq.

In Baghdad, the Shiite Muslim-led Iraqi government said it wanted good ties with Syria but that Damascus needed to do more to stop fighters from slipping across its borders.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh described the region targeted by the Americans as the "scene for many terrorist activities of the last few months," including the killing of 13 policemen in an Iraqi border village in Anbar province. Staunch Syrian ally Iran, which holds enormous sway over the Baghdad government and opposes the U.S. troop presence in Iraq, condemned the U.S. operation.

"We condemn any attack which leads to the killing of innocents and civilians," Foreign Ministry official Hassan Qashqavi told reporters in Tehran.

Miller and Meyer are Times staff writers.

greg.miller@latimes.com

josh.meyer@latimes.com

Times staff writers Ned Parker and Saif Hameed in Baghdad, Borzou Daragahi in Beirut and Julian E. Barnes in Washington and special correspondent Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran contributed to this report.

Source: LA Times

U.S. Intelligence Chief Outlines Successes Against Terrorism

Michael Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, spoke recently of the international community's successes against terrorism in key regions of the world and diminished worldwide support for al-Qaida.

Hayden told the Washington-based Atlantic Council of the United States November 13 that the United States - in cooperation with partners such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the Philippines - has greatly diminished the reach of several terrorist groups.

Al-Qaida in Iraq, for example, "is on the verge of strategic defeat," with the flow of money, weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq now "greatly diminished," Hayden said.

And al-Qaida's operational arm in Saudi Arabia largely has been defeated, he said. Indonesia has made inroads in detecting and disrupting terrorist plots in the past three years as a result of what he called "aggressive action by one of our most effective counterterrorism partners." Filipino allies have kept the pressure on the Abu-Sayef group, Hayden said, limiting its effectiveness.

While the remote, tribal areas on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border remain problematic, progress has been made, according to the CIA director. He said the practice of terrorists taking refuge in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas is lessening. Due to cooperation among the Pakistan government, its military and the U.S. intelligence community, terrorist networks have lost many "decision makers, commanders, experienced and committed fighters" who, Hayden said, planned attacks against Europe and the United States.

The Pakistani government and military "deserves great credit for its current campaign against extremists," he added. More al-Qaida leaders have been killed or captured "in partnership with our Pakistani allies than ... with any other partner around the world," Hayden said.

The CIA official cited another reason for optimism in the fight against terrorism: "Some hard-line religious leaders are speaking out against al-Qaida's tactics and its ideology." Hayden cited generic polling showing declining support for al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden in predominantly Muslim countries.

More and more Muslims "are pushing back against the senseless violence and flawed worldview of al-Qaida," he said. Credible, authentic, influential Islamic voices are speaking out and "refuting al-Qaida's twisted justification for murdering innocents" as well as its ideology seeking to erase the distinction between combatants and noncombatants.

Besides Pakistan and Indonesia, Hayden praised the counterterrorism efforts of other U.S. partners such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Military and law enforcement activities and even efforts addressing the conflict of ideas have resulted in improvements in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, he said. "I have always said that the civilized world will win this fight when we win the war of ideas," he added.

NEXT STEPS

Efforts to defeat al-Qaida in the near future will continue to center on Yemen, Somalia and the Afghan-Pakistan border, according to Hayden. Intelligence suggests that some veterans of terror operations in Iraq are now drifting to other regions, such as North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, in search of new action.

Even though al-Qaida has suffered serious setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the intelligence-agency director said, "it remains a determined, adaptive enemy." Al-Qaida is still "the most dangerous threat we face," he told the Atlantic Council's Global Intelligence Forum.

In Hayden's opinion, al-Qaida's base of operations on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan remains "the single most important factor today in the group's resilience and its ability to threaten the West." He contends that the remote, tribal areas along the Afghan-Pakistan border have supported terrorist financing, recruiting, training and plotting in the past.

While al-Qaida-related operations in the tribal regions do not rise to the level of activity that once existed in Afghanistan, Hayden said, its recent efforts to destabilize Pakistan are worrisome.

The Pakistani army has been fighting extremists "forcefully and with considerable success since early August," Hayden said. The Pakistanis have a multibrigade operation under way in the tribal area of Bajaur, and while they have sustained losses, "they are also imposing significant casualties on our common enemy."

But when al-Qaida is dealt a blow, Hayden said, its senor leadership recalibrates. "They constantly look for ways to make up for losses, extend their reach, take advantage of opportunities, and we're seeing that ... in some places like ... Somalia or Yemen."

Yemen has witnessed an unprecedented number of attacks in 2008, Hayden said, including two against the U.S. Embassy. The sophistication of attacks and the range of targets are broadening. Hayden said that, like what has happened elsewhere, terrorist cells in Yemen "are operating from remote, tribal areas where the government has traditionally had very little authority."

That al-Qaida tends to gain strength only in isolated, ungoverned territories "may be the most damning thing we can say about this organization," Hayden said. It can subsist only beyond the reach of civilization and the reach of the rule of law.

HANDLING THE TRANSITION

As head of the CIA, Hayden's service may continue into the Obama administration, although frequently a new president appoints his own director. Asked about his interest in continuing in his present position - which includes conducting daily presidential intelligence briefings at the White House - the director said he serves at the pleasure of the president, but would consider staying if asked.

As this is the first wartime presidential transition for the United States in 40 years, some thought is being given by transition officials to keeping some Bush appointees, at least temporarily, so the transfer of power from one administration to another is as seamless as possible.

Hayden said members of the Bush administration have been directed to "make this the smoothest transition in recorded history." With the United States on a wartime footing and al-Qaida already having made a critical remark about President-elect Barack Obama on the Internet, the director said, efforts are under way to get a new team ready for any contingency as swiftly as possible "so that there is no diminution in the ability of the Republic to defend itself."

Video of the forum ( http://www.acus.org/event_blog/cia-director-event ) is available on the Atlantic Council Web site. A transcript of Hayden's remarks ( https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/directors-remarks-at-the-atlantic-council.html ) is available on the CIA Web site.

For more information about U.S. policy, see Confronting Terrorism ( http://fpolicy.america.gov/fpolicy/security/counterterrorism.html) on America.gov.

Source: NewsBlaze

Joint Declaration of the Participants in the EU-Central Asia Forum on Security Issues in Paris

Driven by a shared commitment to developing and organising our long-term partnership on the basis of common objectives and undertakings to strengthen peace and stability in Central Asia, respect for human rights and the development of the rule of law and democracy, we met on the occasion of the First European Union - Central Asia Forum on Security Issues in Paris on 18 September 2008.

With the contribution of the international and regional organisations concerned, we have analysed security issues in Central Asia and defined concrete policy lines for our joint action in the following areas: combating illicit trafficking in arms, sensitive material, narcotics and human beings; combating terrorism and extremism; and cooperation in energy and the environment.

In line with the European Union’s Strategy for a New Partnership with Central Asia and on the basis of documents on the bilateral priorities of cooperation and of the regional initiatives, we agreed on the following points:

1. Strengthening political dialogue in all its forms

Convinced that socio-economic development, human rights, stability, peace and security are inseparable and mutually reinforcing, we intend to examine together the principal factors of tension and their consequences in the world today. It is our responsibility to create, through our exchanges and our joint initiatives, the conditions required to develop the potential of Central Asian countries. Political dialogue helps to lay the foundations for future action and shared work with a view to ensuring the political and socio-economic security and stability of the countries in the region.

We underline the importance of the EU Rule of Law Initiative in Central Asia. We will continue the dialogue on human rights with the EU, as well as in the framework of bilateral relations and multilateral organisations such as the UN and the OSCE, of which Kazakhstan will hold the chairmanship in 2010.

2. Strengthening regional stability

Broadening cooperation among the region’s countries, particularly on border security, is key to regional stability and security in Central Asia and to setting up cooperative management of regional risks and threats.

Our joint efforts will help to combat new risks and threats more effectively.

It is essential to reinforce regular exchanges of information and analyses to take into account possible risks of a political and military nature, especially through collaboration between analysis and research centres working on security, strategy and international relations issues in the Central Asian countries and in the EU.

The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery represents a particular threat to peace and international stability. We reaffirm our support for the multilateral treaties and agreements as well as international initiatives on non-proliferation, and we agree to step up our efforts with a view to their full implementation. The commitment of the Central Asian countries to non-proliferation and disarmament was confirmed by the signing of the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia on 8 September 2006 in Semipalatinsk.

The creation of a nuclear weapon free zone will help to maintain and strengthen peace and stability internationally and regionally and promote non-proliferation in all its aspects.

We intend to pool our experience and cooperate in establishing effective export control systems, including conventional arms exports, strengthening border controls and securing sensitive facilities and sources of nuclear, radioactive, biological and chemical material, in order to prevent any risk of proliferation and procurement by terrorist groups.

We express our grave concern about growing nuclear proliferation crises and the risk of destabilisation to the non-proliferation regime, and we are in favour of compliance with international non-proliferation obligations, particularly the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and those issued by IAEA Board of Governors.

We underline the importance of boosting the role of the IAEA in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

3. Stepping up the fight against terrorism

Combating terrorism in all its forms and expressions must be conducted within the framework of the international treaties and relevant United Nations Resolutions while respecting human rights, which guarantees its effectiveness.

We agree to continuously fight the financing of terrorism, in accordance with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

We consider that enhanced cooperation at all levels among the countries concerned, in both Central Asia and Europe, is a condition necessary to the successful achievement of our objective.

We believe it important to adopt measures to prevent the action of terrorist organisations that are engaged in illicit activities and that are banned by Central Asian and EU countries.

4. Developing cooperation between Central Asia and the European Union in rebuilding Afghanistan and stabilising its situation

We are mindful of the stabilisation and development of Afghanistan, factors which contribute to consolidating regional and global security. In referring to the conclusions of the International Conference in Support of Afghanistan held in Paris on 12 June, we reaffirm our determination to actively contributing to their implementation, particularly by reinforcing our political exchanges and economic cooperation with this country, as well as our cooperation with the relevant international organisations, especially the United Nations and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

5. Joining forces to fight illicit trafficking in arms, sensitive materials, narcotics and human beings

The EU will increase cooperation with Central Asian countries to strengthen and implement legal measures to more effectively combat all forms of illicit trafficking: arms, sensitive materials, narcotics, psychotropic substances and their precursors, and human beings. The adoption of national strategies on integrated border management could be an effective means of ensuring internal stability in Central Asia. The Dushanbe Conference on 21 and 22 October 2008 will review the mechanisms for enhancing international coordination.

Concerned by persistently high drug production levels in Afghanistan and by the development of opium-to-heroin conversion activities, we welcome the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1817 on the fight against the trade in precursors. We are committed to implementing its provisions, particularly those aimed at increasing international control of precursors. We undertake to enhance cooperation within the framework of the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and the Paris Pact Initiative. A meeting of experts based on an enlarged troika format is planned on 1 October 2008 in Brussels and will help to strengthen the control of these products at a regional level. On this occasion, discussion focusing on updating the drug action plan will begin.

We believe that it is essential to develop and implement projects/programmes to improve, in their fight against narcotics trafficking, the law enforcement capacities of the countries bordering Afghanistan which are most at risk from the trafficking in narcotics originating from Afghanistan.

We are thoroughly convinced that the development of cooperation among Central Asian countries, with the participation of international organisations and donor countries, will ensure the adoption of effective measures to fight this common scourge. In this connection, we welcome the creation of the Central Asia Regional Information and Coordination Centre (CARICC) for the fight against narcotics trafficking.

6. Strengthening cooperation in energy, the use of natural resources and the environment

We will reinforce our cooperation in energy without prejudice to current cooperation.

We consider that the harmonisation of the interests of energy consumers and suppliers, transit states and transnational companies is a guarantee of international energy stability. Energy security in Central Asia and the EU presupposes common rules and a reasoned choice of new transport options involving all the countries concerned. We reaffirm the importance of active cooperation in the development of different hydrocarbon transport corridors that aim to ensure a guaranteed and reliable supply for European markets and other international markets.

In light of the conclusions of the energy ministers’ conference in Baku in November 2004, our cooperation will focus on the development of regional energy markets and strengthening the financing capacities for new infrastructure; implementation of open, forward-looking and proactive energy policies; setting up an investor-friendly environment by according an appropriate role to market mechanisms; and lastly improving energy efficiency in the various uses of primary energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lessen the cost to economic growth and free up additional capacity.

We also note the necessity of enhancing our cooperation in renewable and alternative energies as well as in reliable, sustainable, low-carbon technologies. We will achieve this by comparing energy scenarios and ensuring cooperation among energy industries, particularly upstream and downstream of the hydrocarbons industry.

We are in favour of developing cooperation to jointly exploit hydro-energy resources, taking the interests of all the region’s countries into consideration.

The European Union will provide support to the development of hydraulic energy in Central Asia that will also help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without prejudice to the region’s environmental security.

Conscious of the security implications of climate change, we are in favour of adopting long-term strategies to prevent the climate effects of human activities and in favour of the accession to multilateral instruments related thereto. We suggest that a dialogue be launched on how to address the threats posed by climate change in Central Asia in order to strengthen EU and Central Asian cooperation on this issue.

The European Union will pay particular attention to regional cooperation in Central Asia on the rational, efficient and sustainable use of hydraulic, hydro-energy and fuel resources and the environment.

The EU is ready to use its study and cooperation capabilities to facilitate the implementation of best practices, availability of drinking water and sanitation, as well as fighting climate change, inter alia, by increasing energy and hydraulic efficiency while safeguarding the ecological balance in the region.

We support the European Union’s Water Initiative (EUWI).

7. Helping to prepare a comprehensive approach to security in Central Asia

In a world marked by recurrent instability, we will strengthen our partnership and encourage the efforts of countries and regional organisations that can help to create a genuine area of cooperative security in Central Asia.

In this respect, we welcome the creation of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia

Source: France Diplomatie

Netherlands Concerned about Al Qaida in North Africa

The Netherlands is concerned about the increasing influence of Al Qaida in North Africa. The Hague wants to step up its partnership with Algeria against terrorism, Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told the Lower House on Friday.

As far as international terrorism is concerned, "the most important threat unabatedly comes from Islamic terrorist groupings including Al Qaida," according to Verhagen. "Al Qaida's influence has unfortunately increased in the border area of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the past year." However, "the threat has increased specifically in the North Africa/Sahel region," Verhagen adds.

Elementary for success in Afghanistan "is a clear approach by Pakistan". Media and experts say that the Pakistani government is too conciliatory and negotiates from a position of weakness, according to the minister. "The fear exists that a safe haven for terrorists will thereby again be permitted in the tribal areas. The Dutch government shares this concern."

In North Africa, the linking up of the Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat (GSPC) with Al Qaida has led to the emergence of the AQIM terrorist group. This has drawn attention to itself recently via some bloody attacks. "Organisations like AQIM also have network contacts in countries in Western Europe, and recent arrests in Austria and Germany show they also form a potential threat to the Netherlands."

Due to the regional mutual links between North African countries, Verhagen considers it "important to work closely with countries like Morocco and Algeria to reduce terrorism in the region and the influence of AQIM." Cooperation with Morocco has been stepped up in the past year. "The Netherlands is now in talks with Algeria to arrive at a similar partnership arrangement." This focuses on tackling radicalisation via the Internet and in prisons, and tackling the financing of terrorism, document fraud and detection of explosives.

In general, Verhagen places "great value on tackling the underlying factors" that contribute to extremism and terrorism. For this, he has three policy goals. These are "fostering the dialogue between cultures, encouraging reforms in Islamic/Arabic countries and removing the negative perceptions of the West in the Islamic/Arabic world, among other means by using public diplomacy." In combating terrorism, "respect for human rights is paramount."

Meanwhile, Verhagen is working on an anti-terrorism institute to be based in the Netherlands. CDA MP Coruz requested this in a Lower House motion in April. According to Verhagen, "the government will carry out further research to achieve this. I hope to be able to tell you more about this within a few months," he wrote to the House.

Source: NISNEWS

Is Terrorist Funding Adapting to Post-9/11 Laws?

Terrorist networks are adapting their financing methods to circumvent new anti-terror laws passed after 9/11, say Michael Jacobson and Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Both are also former officials with the Treasury Department's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. In their report released this month, The Money Trail: Finding, Following, and Freezing Terrorist Finances (CLICK TO DOWNLOAD), the pair argue that terrorist networks like Al Qaeda are increasingly relying on criminal operations, private donations, and informal transfers of cash to avoid the extensive methods of electronic surveillance enacted after 9/11.

The report was discussed in a Sunday RFE/RL interview with Jacobson, who was also a counsel on the 9/11 Commission. (Levitt wrote a concise summary of the report in his Counterterrorism Blog last week.) He warns:

"[I]n that period after 9/11, when there was greater international willingness and cooperation on counterterrorism, a lot of countries took steps to improve their own capabilities. As you've gotten further away from 9/11 – as the threat seems less clear, and along with some specific feelings in foreign governments and in the private sector wondering about the importance of combating terrorist financing – I think you've seen the international effort slipping.

[...]

That's one of the ironies of the success since 9/11. You've seen as the United States and the Europeans and other governments have cracked down on the use of the formal financial system of banks, you've seen a shift away from banks to terrorists using cash, to terrorists using cash couriers, to terrorists using Hawala and other informal financial-transfer mechanisms."

One interesting point raised was the idea that some countries are "passive supporters" of Al Qaeda. Iran, for instance, actively supports Hezbollah and Hamas, but maintains a mistrustful tolerance of Al Qaeda:

"Iran has a very tenuous relationship with Al-Qaeda. It is a balancing act for them. They do not trust each other. They do not really like each other. But I think, at times, enemies of the United States can find things to agree on. And so I think even before 9/11 you've actually seen Iran let Al-Qaeda members go through Iran on the way to Afghanistan and Pakistan and not stamp their passports so they wouldn't have a record of going into Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Additionally, on top of the lucrative opium trade in Afghanistan, terrorists are beginning to use other criminal means to raise money for operations. For example, the cell in Madrid responsible for the 2004 train bombings raised most of their money by selling hashish, while one of the UK cells behind the 7/7 attacks acquired part of their funding by defaulting on a bank loan. Well, what about the efficacy of freezing financial assets?:

"This is one of the misunderstood areas of terrorist financing, where the public and the media tend to view the public designations, the public blacklisting and the freezing as the sum total of what is being done in the terrorist financing area. To use that as the metric, I think, is misleading. It has to be coupled with a really aggressive and effective intelligence – a 'following the money approach.'

One of the difficulties the U.S. has encountered in this area has been in terms of the Gulf countries where they have made a lot of improvements since 9/11 but where a lot of improvements still could be made. There are a few problems in this area. One of them is that a few of the Gulf countries – like the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and Bahrain – are very focused on trying to make themselves international financial centers. Obviously, in that respect, it is very important to draw in capital from around the world and be an attractive place for money to come. But at the same time, you've got to make sure that the money coming in is clean and that you've put adequate controls in place to regulate. So I think that has been a hard balance to strike in the Gulf."

Jacobson also echoed what CIA Director General Michael Hayden stressed last week in a speech at the Atlantic Council: Al Qaeda has constantly been on the run since the Taliban were toppled in Afghanistan and now spends much of its resources strictly on securing the safety of its leadership. As such, "a lot of the cells, for example in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, have been raising the funds themselves at this point. So you really have seen a shift from central control of the funding for terrorist cells and terrorist plots."

In a recent piece for the New Atlanticist, my colleague James Joyner discussed Hayden's remarks on the recurring trend of Al Qaeda establishing a base in a country, being chased out, and reconstituting elsewhere. Under the Taliban's Afghanistan, Al Qaeda's fundraising activities were definitely more centralized than they are now. However, it would be very interesting to look at whether the organization's financing methods in the transitional period between Yemen and Afghanistan mimic its present methods. If parallels do indeed exist, it would seem that this knowledge could be used to improve laws aimed at stopping terror funding.

Jacobson states:

"[T]he reality is that if you don't know what you are looking for – if you don't understand terrorist financing – then you are not going to stop it. One of the things we recommend, now that they have this good rules-based structure in place, is that they have got to shift to more of a risk-based structure. You've got to figure out whether countries are actually stopping it. That would be an important shift."

Knowing what to look for may be half the battle.

Peter Cassata is an assistant editor with the Atlantic Council. Photo credit: Popsci.com.

Source: ACUS

Islamic Charity Charged with Terrorist Financing; Former U.S. Congressman Indicted

KANSAS CITY -- A federal grand jury in the Western District of Missouri has returned a superseding indictment that charges the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) and several of its former officers with eight new counts of engaging in prohibited financial transactions for the benefit of U.S.-designated terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The indictment also charges former U.S. Congressman Mark Deli Siljander with money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the case.

The 42-count superseding indictment returned today was announced by Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; John F. Wood, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri; Joseph Billy, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division; and Monte C. Strait, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Kansas City Field Office.

“This superseding indictment paints a troubling picture of an American charity organization that engaged in transactions for the benefit of terrorists and conspired with a former United States Congressman to convert stolen federal funds into payment for his advocacy on behalf of the charity,” said Assistant Attorney General Wainstein.

“An organization right here in the American heartland allegedly sent funds to Pakistan for the benefit of a specially designated global terrorist with ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban,” said U.S. Attorney Wood. “By bringing this case in the middle of America, we seek to make it harder for terrorists to do business halfway around the globe. The indictment also alleges that a former congressman engaged in money laundering and obstruction of a federal investigation in an effort to disguise IARA’s misuse of taxpayer money that the government had provided for humanitarian purposes.”

IARA, the Islamic charitable organization named in today’s indictment, was headquartered in Columbia, Mo., and was formerly known as the Islamic African Relief Agency-USA. IARA was officially formed in 1985 and closed in October 2004, when it was identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as a specially designated global terrorist organization. Mubarak Hamed, 51, of Columbia, Mo., a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sudan, served as IARA’s former executive director and is named as a defendant in the indictment.

Also charged in today’s superseding indictment is Mark Deli Siljander, 57, a former U.S. Congressman from Michigan (1981-87) who serves as the owner/director of Global Strategies, Inc., a planning, marketing and public relations company located in the Washington, D.C. area.

Other defendants named in the indictment are Ali Mohamed Bagegni, 53, formerly of Columbia, Mo, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Libya and a former member of IARA’s board of directors; Ahmad Mustafa, 55, of Columbia, a citizen of Iraq, and a former fund-raiser for IARA; Khalid Al-Sudanee, 56, a citizen and resident of Jordan, and the regional director of the Middle East office of the Islamic African Relief Agency (also known as the Islamic Relief Agency, or ISRA); and Abdel Azim El-Siddig, 51, of Palos Heights, Ill., a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Sudan, and formerly vice president for international operations for IARA.

On March 6, 2007, IARA, along with five officers, employees and associates were charged in a 33-count indictment for illegally transferring funds to Iraq in violation of federal sanctions. They were also charged with stealing government funds, with misusing IARA’s charitable status to raise funds for an unlawful purpose, and with attempting to avoid government detection of their illegal activities by, among other things, falsely denying in a nationally-televised interview that a procurement agent of Osama bin Laden had been an employee of IARA. These charges are included in the superseding indictment returned today.

New Terrorism-Related Charges Against IARA

Today’s superseding indictment adds to the original charges by alleging that IARA and its former executive director, Mubarak Hamed, engaged in prohibited financial transactions for the benefit of Specially Designated Global Terrorist, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan mujahideen leader and founder of the Hezb-e-Islami-Gulbuddin (HIG), who has participated in and supported terrorist acts by al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Hekmatyar has vowed to engage in a holy war against the United States and international troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. government designated Hekmatyar as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on Feb. 19, 2003, thereby blocking all property and interests in property of Hekmatyar.

According to Counts Thirty-Four through Forty-One of the new indictment, IARA and Hamed knowingly and willfully engaged in financial transactions for the benefit of Hekmatyar’s organization by sending approximately $130,000 in 2003 and 2004 in numerous transactions to Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) bank accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan, purportedly for an orphanage housed in buildings owned and controlled by Hekmatyar.

“Sending money to benefit designated terrorists jeopardizes both U.S. national security and the security of nations around the world,” said Assistant Director Joseph Billy, Jr., FBI Counterterrorism Division. “The FBI will continue to work diligently with our partners in the law enforcement and intelligence community to pursue suspected terrorists and their supporters, whether in the United States or overseas.”

It is important to note that the indictment does not charge any of the defendants with material support of terrorism, nor does it allege that they knowingly financed acts of terror. Instead, the indictment alleges that some of the defendants engaged in financial transactions that benefited property controlled by a designated terrorist, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

New Charges Against Former Congressman

Today’s superseding indictment also names Mark Deli Siljander as a defendant on counts of money laundering, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. According to the indictment, Siljander was hired in March 2004 by defendants IARA, Hamed, and Bagegni to advocate for the removal of IARA from a U.S. Senate Finance Committee list of non-profit organizations suspected of being involved in supporting international terrorism.

The Senate Finance Committee placed IARA on this list of charities and published the list on Jan. 14, 2004. Siljander was to advocate for IARA’s removal from the list and reinstatement as an approved government contractor by gathering information and meeting with individuals and agencies of the U.S. government.

As compensation for the services that Siljander agreed to perform, IARA transferred roughly $50,000 in stolen federal funds to accounts that were controlled by Siljander at the National Heritage Foundation and the International Foundation. According to the indictment, the funds used to compensate Siljander for his services had previously been stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by IARA, Hamed and Bagegni. The International Foundation and the National Heritage Foundation, which is not related to the Heritage Foundation, are not charged with any wrongdoing in this case.

IARA, Hamed and Bagegni had previously entered into a series of agreements with USAID for relief projects in Mali, Africa. When USAID terminated those agreements in December 1999, the amount of money involved totaled approximately $2 million. IARA had allegedly failed to fully fund the matching contributions required to receive USAID funds. After the termination of these agreements, the indictment alleges, IARA, Hamed and Bagegni, without authorization, retained approximately $84,922 of USAID money and failed to return the funds to USAID as called for by the agreements.

According to Count Twenty-Eight of the indictment, Siljander and defendants IARA, Hamed, Bagegni and El-Siddig conspired to engage in money laundering by transferring stolen USAID funds, knowing that the transfers were designed to conceal the nature, source and ownership of the proceeds. Counts Twenty-Nine through Thirty-One of the indictment charge Siljander along with IARA, Hamed, Bagegni and El-Siddig with engaging in money laundering by transferring stolen USAID funds, knowing that the transfers were designed to conceal the nature, source and ownership of the proceeds.

Obstruction of Justice

Count Thirty-Two of the indictment alleges that Siljander obstructed the due administration of justice in the grand jury investigation in the Western District of Missouri by making false statements to FBI agents in December 2005 and to FBI agents and federal prosecutors in April 2007.

According to the indictment, Siljander told federal officials that he had not been hired to do any lobbying or advocacy work for IARA and that the money or checks he received from IARA were charitable “donations” intended to assist him in writing a book about bridging the gap between Islam and Christianity. When he made these statements, he then well knew and believed that each statement was false, the indictment alleges.

The public is cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. AID-Office of Inspector General.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony P. Gonzalez from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, in conjunction with Trial Attorneys Corey J. Smith, National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Steven M. Mohlhenrich, Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

http://www.thesop.org/article.php?id=9137

New charges against Islamic charity allege money-laundering link to a former congressman

A federal grand jury has re-indicted a defunct Columbia, Mo., charity, accusing it of sending money to benefit an Afghan terrorist who has attacked U.S. forces there.

The indictment also accuses former U.S. Congressman Mark Deli Siljander of money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Grand jurors added the new charges to an existing indictment that accused the Islamic American Relief Agency and five of its officers and associates of sending money to Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s reign in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to the new charges, the charity sent about $130,000 in 2003 and 2004 to bank accounts in Pakistan, allegedly for an orphanage housed in buildings owned by Glubuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan mujahedeen leader.

The U.S. government designated Hekmatyar as a global terrorist in February 2003 because of his links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.

“By bringing this case in the heartland, we are making it more difficult for terrorists to operate around the world,” U.S. Attorney John Wood said at a news conference.

The charges also accuse Siljander, a Republican who represented Michigan in Congress from 1981 to 1987, of receiving almost $50,000 from the charity in 2004. Siljander, who operates a Washington public relations firm, was hired to lobby Congress to remove the charity from a U.S. Senate Finance Committee list of nonprofit organizations suspected of being involved in supporting international terrorism.

Siljander did not return messages to his office seeking comment about the charges.

His Kansas City lawyer, J.R. Hobbs, said that Siljander vehemently denies the charges and plans to plead not guilty soon.

Hobbs noted that Siljander was not named in the indictment as a defendant who allegedly sent assistance to Hekmatyar.

“Mr. Siljander is … world renowned for his efforts to bridge the Muslim-Christian divide,” Hobbs said.

Because the fresh accusations have been tacked on to the existing litigation against IARA and its officers, they could slow the resolution of a criminal case already moving at a snail’s pace. The existing case was filed in March 2007, and complications about classified evidence have slowed progress. No trial date has been set.

“This constitutes a substantial expansion of an already complex case,” said Curtis Woods, a criminal defense lawyer in Kansas City who is representing Mubarak Hamed, IARA’s former executive director.

The fresh accusations are the latest twist in a federal investigation of the charity that goes back long before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In 1999, the U.S. Agency for International Development revoked grants to the agency, stating they would “not be in the national security interest” of the United States.

In October 2004, federal agents raided IARA’s offices in Columbia on the same day the U.S. Treasury Department designated the organization as a supporter of international terrorism.

Supporters of the organization cried foul, pointing to a list of worldwide humanitarian projects that the charity had supported.

If established, the link to Hekmatyar would be the most serious terrorism allegation in the criminal case.

Hekmatyar leads the Hezb-e-Islami-Gulbuddin, a fundamentalist faction of mujahedeen, and was prime minister of Afghanistan for periods in the mid-1990s. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Hekmatyar has organized an alliance with Taliban leader Muhammad Omar and the remnants of al-Qaida in Afghanistan, according to GlobalSecurity.org.

In a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera last year, Hekmatyar announced that he and his followers supported Osama bin Laden. His group also has been blamed for attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan.

According to the indictment, IARA sent money to accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan, purportedly to develop an orphanage in buildings owned by Hekmatyar.

That orphanage in the Shamshatu refugee camp has been under scrutiny for some time. In 2005, federal prosecutors filed declassified documents in a civil lawsuit in Washington that alleged IARA had been supporting the children of Afghan “martyrs” at the orphanage.

IARA supporters, however, cautioned that the word “martyr” can have a much more benign interpretation than “suicide bomber.”

The allegations against Siljander elaborate on information provided in the March 2007 indictment, including identifying the former congressman as a lobbyist for IARA.

According to prosecutors, IARA transferred about $50,000 in federal international aid grant money to pay for Siljander’s work to clear the charity’s name before the Senate Finance Committee. But instead of just sending the money to Siljander’s firm, the charity transferred it through accounts controlled by Siljander at a couple of other charities.

When questioned by FBI agents about the funds in December 2005 and by prosecutors in April 2007, Siljander allegedly said the money was to have assisted him in writing a book about bridging the gap between Christianity and Islam.

Siljander operates Global Strategies Inc., which helps its clients resolve international business, political and illegal issues, according to its Web site.

A gallery of photos on the site includes Siljander posing with former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, as well as politicians Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott and Bob Dole. Foreign dignitaries in the photos include President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and the Dalai Lama.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Timeline
Feb. 1985: Islamic African Relief Agency founded in Columbia, Mo., to support charitable work in Africa.

Nov. 1996: IARA’s Webmaster purchases satellite telephone that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida use to plot 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa.

Feb. 1999: Charity changes name to Islamic American Relief Agency-USA.

Oct. 2004: Federal agents raid charity’s Columbia offices; U.S. Department of Treasury rules donations to charity illegal.

March 2007: IARA and five officers/associates charged with illegally sending more than $1.4 million to Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s reign.

Wednesday: IARA, the five officers/associates face new terrorism-related charges tied to $130,000 the charity sent to a Pakistani orphanage owned by an Afghan terrorist. Also Wednesday, a former U.S. congressman is charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the case.

Individuals charged
Mubarak Hamed, the charity’s former executive director.

Ali Mohamed Bagegni, former charity board member and treasurer.

Ahmed Mustafa, former charity fundraiser.

Khalid Al-Sudanee, Middle East coordinator for a related charity based in Jordan.

Abdel Azim El-Siddig, former charity vice president for international operations.

Mark Deli Siljander, a U.S. congressman from Michigan in the 1980s and current congressional lobbyist.

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/448158-p2.html

India takes tough stand on terrorism at RIC troika talks

Talking tough on the issue of terrorism, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today told his Russian and Chinese counterparts here that there can be no justification for any terrorist acts, and added that there should be zero tolerance towards this menace.Mukherjee urged Russia and China to implement the comprehensive Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, which was adopted by the United Nations on December 9, 1999.

Mukherjee also raised objections over talks taking place between the Pakistan Government and the Taliiban.Mukherjee said: “It confuses the cause of fighting terrorism both inside and outside Afghanistan.” At the meeting, Mukherjee also raised the issue of killing of indian workers in Afghanistan.India has also raised concerns over narco-trade which is fuelling terrorism in India. The Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministers also condemned Tuesday’s bombing in Jaipur, which claimed over 65 lives and injured over 200. (ANI)

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/india-takes-tough-stand-on-terrorism-at-ric-troika-talks_10048944.html

Analysts: al-Qaida awash in funds despite meltdown

The meltdown in the global financial system may spare al-Qaida.

Buoyed by years of record oil revenues in the Gulf and Afghanistan's booming drug trade, al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorist groups are thought to have access to strong potential funding sources — and thus might dodge fallout from the global crunch devastating others.

Yet all is not lost in the effort to rein in money for terror groups. One principal reason the groups may avoid fallout now is because they've been forced to pull away from banks, relying instead on less-efficient ways to move money.

Those methods — including hand-carrying money and using informal money-transfer networks called hawalas — likely will shield extremists from the current banking system turmoil.

But the methods also are slower and less efficient ways to move money — and thus could hamper efforts to finance attacks, analysts say.

"It would be inconceivable that large amounts of (terror-linked) money would transit through the formal financial system, because of all the controls," said Ibrahim Warde, an expert on terrorist financing at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

The question of where al-Qaida and sympathizers get their money has long been crucial to efforts to prevent terror attacks. A 2004 U.S. investigation found that banks in the United Arab Emirates had unwittingly handled most of the $400,000 spent on the Sept. 11 attacks.

After the attacks, the U.S. made an aggressive push to use law enforcement techniques to disrupt terrorist financing networks and worked with allies to improve their own financial and regulatory institutions.

Despite those efforts, wealthy donors and Islamic charities in the oil-rich Gulf, especially in Saudi Arabia, continue to be "one of the most significant sources of illicit financing for terrorism," said Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury Department terrorism expert now with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

The Saudis have long insisted they are doing all they can to rein in terror financing, and U.S. officials have praised their efforts.

But, under a system known as zakat, wealthy Muslims are required to give a portion of their money to the poor. Much of that is given to Islamic charities, and U.S. officials say at least some of the charities money continues to be channeled to al-Qaida and other terror groups.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have benefited over the last two years from a surge in oil prices from about US$60 per barrel at the beginning of 2007 to more than US$145 per barrel in the middle of this year.

Oil prices have fallen almost 50 percent in the last few months in response to the global financial crisis, but not before the run-up generated hundreds of billions of dollars.

Levitt said the covert nature of terrorist financing makes it difficult to determine a direct correlation between rising oil revenues over the last few years and the amount of cash al-Qaida has on hand.

But "it stands to reason that if there is more oil revenue, there will be more revenue for all kinds of things licit and illicit," he said.

Al-Qaida and the Taliban have also benefited from the drug trade's growth in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 — a booming business that likely won't be affected by the global slowdown.

Opium cultivation has fallen slightly this year but is still about 20 times higher than in 2001, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

Former U.S. drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who now works with NATO, issued a report on Afghanistan in July saying al-Qaida and the Taliban "are principally funded by what some estimate as $800 million dollars a year derived from the huge $4 billion annual illegal production and export of opium/heroin and cannabis."

Al-Qaida and other extremist groups have gloated in recent weeks about the West's financial woes, painting the crisis as either divine punishment for supposed wrongs or the last gasps of a dying empire.

An American al-Qaida member, Adam Gadahn, said in a video released this month that "the enemies of Islam are facing a crushing defeat, which is beginning to manifest itself in the expanding crisis their economy is experiencing."

Members of the militant Palestinian group Hamas and hard-liners in Iran also cheered the economic turmoil.

Iran is thought to be the last major government supporter of terror groups. The majority Shiite country is not believed to finance al-Qaida, a Sunni group, but does support the militant Hezbollah faction in Lebanon, which engaged in war with Israel in 2006.

Iran denies the financial crisis is hurting its economy, but falling oil prices will cut into its crude sales, which make up 80 percent of the government budget. It is unclear how that will affect support to Hezbollah.

Despite the apparent glut in potential money for terror groups, Levitt believes anti-terrorism efforts have hampered the groups' ability to transfer money where they want.

Levitt points to several messages from senior al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan intercepted by the U.S. or released by the terrorist group itself, asking Gulf supporters for more help because of funding shortfalls. Most recently, the al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, appeared in a May 2007 video saying "the mujahideen of the Taliban number in the thousands, but they lack funds."

But Warde and other analysts are not convinced al-Qaida is really hurting.

"Anybody who is involved in fundraising of any sort is never going to say we have enough money, so I think it is a silly argument to say that because there is this intercept ... it is proof that everything we've done has succeeded brilliantly," said Warde.

Source: Ohio.com

Phila. law firm’s 9/11 suit dealt setback

By Chris Mondics
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A federal appeals court today rejected lawsuits by victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against Saudi Arabia and senior members of the Saudi royal family, alleging that they helped foster al-Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist groups.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, ruling in Manhattan, said Saudi Arabia and members of its royal family were protected from being sued because the State Department had not officially designated the desert kingdom as a supporter of terrorism.

Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, foreign governments are immune from such lawsuits unless the State Department finds in advance that they had actively supported terrorist groups.

Lawyers for the kingdom argued that there was no credible evidence that senior Saudi officials had any knowledge of terrorism activities by the charities or that they intended for the charities as vehicles for funding al-Qaeda.

The ruling came in an appeal filed by the Philadelphia law firm of Cozen O'Connor on behalf of several dozen insurers that paid out billions in claims to businesses at ground zero. They were joined in the legal action by law firms representing victims and survivors and various other commercial interests that suffered losses in the attacks.

The appeals challenged a lower court ruling that Saudi Arabia and members of the royal family could not be sued. The decision by the second circuit essentially upheld that decision.

In their lawsuits, the victims alleged that over a period of a decade or more, officials of the government of Saudi Arabia had financed Islamic charities that, in turn, had become the sources of funding for Islamic terrorists, first in Afghanistan and then later in Bosnia Herzegovina and, ultimately, in the Sept. 11 attacks.

The victims offered as evidence testimony by senior U.S. Treasury and State Department officials and other U.S. government findings that the charities had become conduits for terrorist financing, beginning in the mid-1990s. U.S. officials have said that although the Saudis have taken some steps to crack down on the charities, they remained concerned that some charities continue to be sources of funding for al-Qaeda.

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

Kuwaiti Charity Designated for Bankrolling al Qaida Network

June 13, 2008
HP-1023

Washington - The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated the Kuwait-based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) for providing financial and material support to al Qaida and al Qaida affiliates, including Lashkar e-Tayyiba, Jemaah Islamiyah, and Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya. RIHS has also provided financial support for acts of terrorism.

"Designating and freezing the assets of an organization engaged in charitable work is a decision not taken lightly because the last thing we want to do is cut off needed humanitarian assistance," said Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. "However, the reality is that RIHS has used charity and humanitarian assistance as cover to fund terrorist activity and harm innocent civilians, often in poor and impoverished regions. We have a responsibility to do all we can to shut down the funding channels of terrorism."

RIHS was designated today under Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing financial, technological, or material support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. Any assets RIHS holds under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with RIHS.

The RIHS offices in Afghanistan (RIHS-Afghanistan) and Pakistan (RIHS-Pakistan) were designated by the U.S. Government and the United Nations 1267 Committee in January 2002 based on evidence of their support for al Qaida. At that time, there was no evidence that the Kuwait-based RIHS headquarters (RIHS-HQ) knew that RIHS-Afghanistan and RIHS-Pakistan were financing al Qaida.

Since that time, however, evidence has mounted implicating RIHS-HQ in terrorism support activity. The U.S. Government has learned that RIHS senior leadership, who have actively managed all aspects of the organization's day-to-day operations, have been aware of both legitimate and illegitimate uses of RIHS funds.

"We designated two branches of RIHS in 2002, and since then a number of other countries have taken action against RIHS. We look forward to continuing our work with Kuwaiti authorities to ensure that legitimate charitable giving can reach those in need and not be diverted to terrorist organizations," Levey continued.

Suspected of providing support to terrorism, RIHS offices have been closed or raided by the governments of Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, and Russia.

In countries where RIHS activities are banned or scrutinized by local governments, RIHS-HQ has developed multiple methods to continue its operations. After the Government of Bangladesh closed RIHS offices, RIHS-HQ funneled money into Bangladesh through another organization to continue RIHS activities and to help shield it from scrutiny there. RIHS-HQ has used RIHS officials and other individuals to courier funds out of the country in order to evade the scrutiny of the international financial system. In some countries, including Albania and Kosovo in particular, RIHS senior officials have assisted RIHS branch offices with name changes, and then continued to provide financial support to the new organizations.

RIHS Support for Terrorism in South Asia

RIHS-HQ provides significant financial and logistical support to the U.N.-designated terrorist group Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based terrorist group with links to the al Qaida network. LeT was reportedly implicated in the July 2006 attack on multiple Mumbai commuter trains, and in the December 2001 attack against the Indian Parliament. As of 2007, RIHS provided office space to an LeT leader who visited Kuwait to raise funds for LeT operations. RIHS officials accompanied the LeT leader while he raised funds throughout Kuwait. As of late 2007, RIHS sent money to LeT elements on a monthly basis, and regularly transferred funds to LeT representatives' bank accounts in Pakistan. In some cases, LeT has received the funds at charitable entities associated with RIHS.

RIHS also reportedly provided a key source of funding for terrorist attacks carried out by an extremist group in Bangladesh in 2005. Despite a February 2005 Bangladeshi government ban of the terrorist group Jamaaat Mujahidin Bangladesh (JMB), on August 17, 2005, JMB launched a series of near-simultaneous bomb attacks across Bangladesh, killing two and injuring 64 persons. Over 400 bombs exploded during the course of these attacks, which were carried out in 63 of Bangladesh's 64 provinces. Following the bombings, RIHS was identified as one of the key sources of funding needed for staging these attacks. After the August 2005 bombings, RIHS was accused of funding JMB's military activities with overt and covert funds. These funds were channeled through a senior leader of a Bangladeshi Islamic organization. As of early 2005, RIHS in Bangladesh had contributed millions of dollars to this organization.

RIHS Support for Terrorism in Southeast Asia and the Horn of Africa

RIHS has provided financial and logistical support to the Southeast Asia based terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Specifically, an RIHS employee provided logistical support to JI's fugitive leader Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin (a.k.a. "Hambali") prior to his capture in 2003. Due to the high security conditions during the 2002 Asian Summit, the RIHS employee escorted Hambali from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to an alternate location, where he then provided him with accommodations. The employee was later captured and sentenced to life imprisonment on terrorism charges. An RIHS representative in Indonesia provided funding to a JI member collecting money for JI activities. The JI member funneled the funds he received from RIHS and other sources to JI associates for the procurement of weapons to support their operations.

RIHS has also funded al Qaida and like-minded terrorist groups in Somalia. Al Qaida supporters in Somalia reportedly have historically received significant funds through RIHS. In addition, RIHS provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to a university controlled by Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya.

IDENTIFIER INFORMATION

Revival of Islamic Heritage Society

RIHS Headquarters-Kuwait
Revival of Islamic Heritage Foundation
RIHF
Society for the Revival of Islamic Heritage
Islamic Heritage Revival Party
Islamic Heritage Restoration Society
IHRS
Kuwaiti Heritage
Ihya Turas Al-Islami
Ijha Turath Al-Islami
Jamia Ihya Ul Turath
Jamiat Ihia Al-Turath Al-Islamiya
Jam'iyat Ihya' Al-Turath Al-Islami
Jami'at Ihy'a Al-Tirath Al-Islamia
Jamiatul Ihya Ul Turath
Jamiyat Ikhya At-Turaz Al-Islami, Society of the Rebirth of the Islamic People
Jamiatul-Yahya Ut Turaz
Jomiatul Ehya-Ut Turaj
Jomiyatu-Ehya-Ut Turas Al Islami
Jama'ah Ihya Al-Turaz Al-Islami
Jami'ah Al-Hiya Al-Turath Al Islamiyah
Lajnat Ihya Al-Turath Al-Islami
Lajnat Al-Ihya Al-Turath Al-Islami
RIHS Administration for the Building of Mosques and Islamic Projects
RIHS Mosques Committee
Administration of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society Committee
RIHS Arab World Committee
RIHS Committee for the Arab World
RIHS Committee for West Asia
RIHS Central Asia Committee
Committee for Europe and the Americas
RIHS Europe and the Americas Committee
RIHS Two Americas and European Muslim Committee
RIHS Europe America Muslims Committee
RIHS Southeast Asia Committee
RIHS Committee for South East Asia
RIHS Indian Continent Committee
RIHS Indian Subcontinent Committee
RIHS Committee for India
RIHS African Continent Committee
RIHS Committee for Africa
Revival of Islamic Society Heritage on the African Continent
RIHS Public Relations Committee
RIHS Cultural Committee
RIHS Principle Committee for the Center for Preservation of the Holy Qu'aran
RIHS General Committee for Donations
RIHS Youth Center Committee
RIHS Scientific Committee-Branch of Sabah Al-Nasir
RIHS Fatwas Committee
RIHS Center for Manuscripts Committee
RIHS Educating Committees, Al-Jahra'
RIHS Audio Recordings Committee
RIHS Project of Assigning Preachers Committee
RIHS Office of Printing and Publishing
RIHS Committee for Women
RIHS Committee for Women, Administration for the Building of Mosques
RIHS Women's Branch for the Project of Endowment
RIHS Administration for the Committees of Almsgiving
RIHS Committee for Almsgiving and Charities
RIHS Committee for the Call and Guidance
RIHS-Cambodia
RIHS Cambodia-Kuwait Orphanage Center
The Kuwaiti-Cambodian Orphanage Center
The Kuwait-Cambodia Islamic Cultural Training Center
RIHS Chaom Chau Center
Nara Welfare and Education Association
RIHS-Bosnia and Herzegovina
Kuwaiti Joint Relief Committee, Bosnia and Herzegovina
KJRC-Bosnia and Herzegovina
Plandiste School, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Organizacija Preporoda Islamske Tradicije Kuvajt
Kuwait General Committee for Aid
General Kuwait Committee
RIHS-Albania
Center of Call for Wisdom
CCFW
Thirrja Per Utesi
NGO Turath
RIHS-Kosovo
Dora E Miresise
Hand of Mercy
RIHS-Azerbaijan
RIHS-Russia
RIHS-Lebanon
RIHS-Bangladesh
RIHS-Somalia
RIHS-Ghana
RIHS-Tanzania
RIHS-Benin
RIHS-Cameroon
RIHS-Senegal
RIHS-Nigeria
RIHS-Liberia
RIHS-Ivory Coast

Addresses: Part 5, Qurtaba, P.O. Box 5585, Safat, Kuwait
House #40, Lake Drive Road, Sector #7, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Number 28 Mula Mustafe Baseskije Street, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Number 2 Plandiste Street, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
M.M. Baseskije Street, No.28p, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Number 6 Donji Hotonj Street, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
RIHS Office, Ilidza, Bosnia and Herzegovina
RIHS Alija House, Ilidza, Bosnia and Herzegovina
RIHS Office, Tirana, Albania
RIHS Office, Pristina, Kosovo
Tripoli, Lebanon
City of Sidon, Lebanon
Dangkor District, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Kismayo, Somalia
Kaneshi Quarter of Accra, Ghana
Al-Andalus, Kuwait
Al-Jahra', Kuwait
Al-Qurayn, Kuwait
Sabah Al-Nasir, Kuwait
Qurtubah, Kuwait
Hadiyah, Kuwait
Al-Qadisiyah, Kuwait
Al-Fayha', Kuwait
Al-Riqah, Kuwait
Al-Firdaws, Kuwait
Khitan, Kuwait
Al-Sabahiyah, Kuwait
Jalib Al-Shiyukh, Kuwait
Bayan Wa Mashrif, Kuwait
Sabah Al-Salim, Kuwait
Al-Rumaythiyah, Kuwait
Al-Salimiyah, Kuwait
Al-Aridiyah, Kuwait
Al-Khalidiya, Kuwait
Al-Dhahr, Kuwait
Al-Rawdah, Kuwait
Al-Shamiyah Wa Al-Shuwaykh, Kuwait
Al-Amiriyah, Kuwait
Al-Nuzhah, Kuwait
Kifan, Kuwait
Website: www.alturath.org

Source: US Department of Treasury Press Room

Terror funds from across border

International Islamic terror is funded by a huge financial system. It has penetrated deep into the Indian system as well. The parallel economy has a lot to contribute to it.

There is nexus between smuggling, drug rackets, arms peddlers and hawala. Some part is played by black money also. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-Governmental organization, to study terror finance has found that the terror masters use all financial and banking routes to support their activities. In other words, they use the international or national banking and financial systems. The FATF has been trying to cut the terror funding. So far, India is not a member of this organization.

Significantly, the terror financial mechanism extends to almost all activities. The terror outfits also raise funds from the public. Even black money is supposed to have a role in its sustenance. Besides, the role of charity and human rights organizations need to be under the scanner. It has been found that terrorists spend more on preparations so that the cost of the actual operations could be reduced, according to the FATF 2008 report.

The terror outfits have been investing in the Mumbai stock exchange and are stated to be active players in real estate. Their linkage with various building and construction companies needs to be probed. Does the real estate boom have a terror link?

International money laundering too has close links with terror and crime. It is estimated that 50 per cent of the US $950 billion money laundered is done by terror-related organizations. According to the UN Monitoring Committee estimates, smuggling funds 29 per cent, drugs 26 per cent, organized crime 24 per cent and financial frauds 21 per cent.

Importantly, the economics of terror extends to many activities in India . Sadly, however the Indian investigative agencies have done little either to study or penetrate these outfits. After 9/11 the US broke the funding links. The UK also has done it. But this is nowhere on the radar of our anti-terror mechanism.

Especially against the background that the Indian agencies are aware of the different modules that fund terror. The Mumbai police investigations found that the founder of the Indian Mujahideen Riyaz Bhatkal, had set-up a recruiting agency for the Gulf countries. He had recruited over 500 youth. This had earned him a huge sum both from the recruits and their employers. The agencies have not investigated whether the employers have links with terror outfits.

Not only that. The Madhya Pradesh Police found that SIMI's chief coordinator Safdar Nagori had held a youth camp at Indore in 2007. He had set a target of raising Rs one crore through donations and charity by mobilizing the youth.

In addition, major funding comes through fake currencies purportedly printed in neighbouring countries and circulated through them. In April last, one Naushad Alam Khan was held in Dhaka with Rs 50 lakh fake Indian currency notes. Khan, it was found, was a close aide of the Harket-ul-Jihadi's (HUJI) Bangladesh Chief Abdul Hanan. Many such fake currencies have been found in Nepal as well.

An ex-Punjab terrorist Kashmir Singh too was arrested in April with 50 kg heroin worth several crores in the international market. He is believed to be working for terror organizations. In the recent Mumbai attack, the terrorists used credit cards apart from other sources of funding.

The Taliban and Al Qaeda have always been raising funds through drug and arms peddling. It is said that it controls the drug triangle and the Myanmar-India-Afghanistan-Europe route.

Their operations reportedly have close links with different insurgent groups in Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, ULFA and other insurgent groups in Assam and Tripura. They operate with close cooperation from their shadow organizations in Nepal and Bangladesh .

Additionally, the Naxalites get arms from myriad sources including China , Pakistan and Afghanistan . Not much study has been done of the finances of the Naxalites. Mere extortions and the poor-exploited people do not fund the billions of rupees spent by the Naxalites in their operations.

The US Commission for Studying the Funding Pattern of Terrorists has come out with a 155-page report. According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation terrorists in the US have used almost all the available financial services at one time or the other. The US could confiscate properties worth US $850,000 having links to the Al Qaeda and related terror organizations.

The Commission revealed another pattern: terror outfits are acquiring properties and possibly are even active players in the real estate business. The US Administration is looking into the sub-prime crisis from this angle as well. It is also trying to find out how the penetration of these organizations had affected its economy.

Various estimates suggest that terror outfits spent about US $750,000 on eight operations. The US security agencies estimated, as per a Washington Times report on Nov 18 2001, that the 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks cost the terror outfits US $500,000. The UK home office said that the 7/7/2005 London transport system attacks cost the terrorists British pound 8,000. In 2004, the UN Monitoring Team estimated that the Madrid train blast cost US $10,000; the Istanbul truck blasts US $40,000; Jakarta Marriott Hotel blast US $30,000; Bali explosions US $50,000; and the attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania US $50,000.

Clearly, India needs to do a study on the terror financial resources and swoop down on it. It needs a detailed and specific study to pinpoint the lacunae in the legal and financial system so that such funding could be throttled.

Shivaji Sarkar, -INFA

Source: Central Cronicle