Exclusive: Facing cash crunch, Hezbollah seeks to boost illegal drug sales in Europe

washington — 

Hezbollah is seeking to rapidly boost income of amerciable drugs successful Europe, erstwhile U.S. officials archer VOA, arsenic the Iran-backed Lebanese militia reels from a weekslong Israeli violative that has destroyed and disrupted its cardinal sources of currency successful Lebanon.

International instrumentality enforcement officials archer VOA, though, the U.S.-designated panic radical faces immoderate challenges successful ramping up its European cause trafficking operations.

Hezbollah has plunged into a fiscal situation since Israel began escalating its attacks connected the group’s leaders and infrastructure successful Lebanon successful precocious September, according to U.S. and Lebanese sources who spoke with VOA earlier this month.

Those attacks see Sunday’s Israeli airstrikes connected branches of Hezbollah’s quasi-banking instauration Al-Qard Al-Hassan successful Hezbollah-dominated parts of Lebanon including the group’s confederate Beirut stronghold.

Israel’s violative follows 11 months of limiting its responses to Hezbollah attacks connected the country’s northbound successful enactment of Iran-backed panic radical Hamas, which invaded confederate Israel from Gaza past October, sparking the year-old warfare successful the Palestinian territory.

The erstwhile U.S. officials, who spoke exclusively to VOA astir Hezbollah’s planetary cause trafficking activities, said their sources successful Europe person reported an uptick of involvement by Hezbollah successful selling illicit drugs connected the continent this month.

Hezbollah operates a planetary criminal-financial network, with hubs successful Africa and Latin America, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service. The European Union’s bureau for instrumentality enforcement cooperation, Europol, said successful a 2022 report that Hezbollah besides uses the EU arsenic a “base for fundraising, recruitment and transgression activities from which they get important profits.”

Hezbollah has built a “network of collaborators” successful the EU, suspected of “managing the proscription and organisation of amerciable drugs ... and moving nonrecreational wealth laundering operations,” the Europol study said.

“I person talked to respective Europe-based traffickers who were arrested successful the past and recruited arsenic sources for instrumentality enforcement and are present backmost connected the streets,” said David Asher, a erstwhile U.S. Defense and State Department authoritative who targeted Hezbollah’s planetary cause trafficking and wealth laundering networks, successful an October 9 interview.

“They told maine they are being contacted to put illicit cause deliveries connected behalf of Hezbollah-affiliated actors arsenic accelerated arsenic possible,” Asher said. “It does not mean determination already is an uptick successful narcotics connected the street, but I would expect it due to the fact that Hezbollah’s wealth is successful peril successful Lebanon, and they request to rise much done illicit means.”

Thomas Cindric, a retired peculiar cause of the U.S. Justice Department’s Drug Enforcement Administration who served astatine the DEA from 1996 to 2018, told VOA connected Monday that radical associated with the amerciable cause commercialized besides person reported to him an uptick of Hezbollah-related cause trafficking enactment successful Europe successful the past 10 days.

An planetary instrumentality enforcement authoritative who spoke with VOA past Friday and requested anonymity to sermon a delicate issue, said organized transgression groups linked to Hezbollah “no uncertainty volition effort to summation their activity" due to the fact that Hezbollah is nether fiscal pressure.

“When you are getting deed the mode that Hezbollah is getting deed close present by the Israelis, the lone mode you tin marque wealth exponentially accelerated is with amerciable drugs,” Cindric said.

VOA contacted the U.S. Justice and Homeland Security departments past week to inquire if they person made akin observations astir Hezbollah but got nary response.

The Biden medication has imposed aggregate rounds of sanctions connected individuals and organizations affiliated with Hezbollah arsenic portion of an effort to disrupt the group's illicit revenue-generating planetary activities and dismantle its fiscal network.

Selling amerciable drugs successful Europe is simply a speedy mode for Hezbollah to rise wealth due to the fact that of ample request and supply, according to Hans-Jakob Schindler, elder manager of the Counter Extremism Project, a U.S.-German nonprofit argumentation organization.

“Europe is the largest user of cocaine worldwide, bigger than the United States, truthful the request is there,” said Schindler, a erstwhile U.N. Security Council and German authorities official.

On the proviso side, Schindler said Hezbollah has established relationships with South American cause cartels who vessel their illicit cargos to West Africa, from wherever they are transported archetypal to Africa’s bluish seashore and past to Europe’s confederate coast.

“Unlike cause trafficking, Hezbollah’s different money-making ventures are not casual to ramp up quickly,” Schindler said.

Hezbollah-linked companies engaged successful commercialized activities apt would beryllium incapable to treble their profits successful a substance of days, portion the radical besides would find it hard to rapidly summation its donations from and its extortion of the Lebanese diaspora, helium said.

Quentin Mugg, a French constabulary serviceman successful Europol and writer of the French publication “Argent Sale” (Dirty Money) astir his enactment successful warring organized crime, told VOA successful a Friday interrogation that a Hezbollah program to expedite cause trafficking successful Europe is plausible.

“I cognize from past cases that Lebanese oregon Lebanese-origin criminals successful Europe with evident Hezbollah affiliations were laundering the proceeds of amerciable cause income and diverting immoderate of the profits to Hezbollah,” Mugg said.

“So, we cognize that Hezbollah was profiting from this wealth laundering successful a structured benignant of way. With that successful mind, seeking to expedite this enactment makes sense,” helium said.

The planetary instrumentality enforcement authoritative who spoke to VOA said 1 situation Hezbollah faces successful boosting the laundering of proceeds from amerciable cause income is contention from different organized transgression groups progressive connected the continent.

“It is rather competitory retired there, truthful Hezbollah mightiness not beryllium successful,” the authoritative said.

Mugg said Hezbollah and its associates besides volition tally into assertive policing by Europol, which is targeting encrypted communications to uncover large traffickers’ identities.

“Seizures of amerciable drugs person been rising dramatically successful the past fewer years. So, European instrumentality enforcement enactment is truly thriving,” helium said.