North Africa: AQIM Partners With Colombian Drug Cartel
Algiers — Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other Sahel terrorist groups are working with Colombian drug cartels, according to figures released by the United Nations.
Leaders of AQIM have met several times in the Sahel region with representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), International Business Times reported on Sunday (November 30th).
"Narco-jihadists" transport cargo by road through a triangle that includes the west of Libya, Niger, southern Algeria, Mali, and eastern Mauritania, the report said.
The newspaper cited statistics from the United Nations indicating that the Maghreb branch of al-Qaeda had received huge sums of money from such gangs, amounting to 15% of each gramme of cocaine sold by smugglers.
Drug dealing and smuggling, together with ransoms from kidnapping, are key sources of terror financing in the Sahel, an Algerian security source told Tout sur l'Algerie on Sunday.
Smugglers pay terrorist groups to provide secure passage of their drug convoys, from desert to coast, before the contraband is transported to Europe through organised crime networks.
The report this week is not news to Algeria. In June 2013, an Algerian security report warned of the growing ties between terrorist groups and drugs smuggling gangs.
Investigations by Algerian security authorities had revealed a relation between drug smugglers and terror financing cells.
Algeria has recently witnessed a sharp rise in attempts to smuggle drugs and weapons. To prevent such operations, the ANP has stepped up its presence along the southern and south-eastern borders.
In the latest action, an army unit on Tuesday (December 2nd) arrested 51 foreign smugglers near the Niger border. According to the Algerian defence ministry, the smugglers hailed from Chad, Niger and Sudan.
This newly-created "marriage of convenience" between terrorist groups and smugglers is a serious threat, said Boughaba Abdelaziz, a prosecutor at the Mila court.
"Such a relation is sustained by the continued security crisis on the country's eastern and southern border," he said.
"The terrorist groups provide protection for drug and cigarette smuggling convoys," he added.
Security investigations conducted with a detainee involved in drug trafficking revealed that armed groups operating in Sahel countries demanded large sums of money in return for allowing drug trafficking convoys to pass.
Mohammed Lalami, a university professor, questions the alliance between criminals and jihadists.
"How can a group that says it is fighting for the sake of religion allow itself to use money from acts that kill Algeria's sons and daughters?" he wondered.
"In fact, they're criminal groups hiding behind religion to engage in their malicious operations; whether they kill by drugs, bombs or knives, the result is the same: they just target Algerians," the professor added.
He confirmed that confronting this scourge would require co-operation among regional countries, especially Algeria and Morocco.
The narco-terror nexus may have an even more frightening purpose, noted Saida Swami, president of an association for the protection of youth against addiction.
The issue is of particular concern, given that the Islamic State (ISIS) has often replicated methods first seen with al-Qaeda.
"Through my dealings with many young people, I've recorded testimonies that I didn't understand," Swami told Magharebia. "Some were saying that the terrorists would use drugs and hallucinogenic pills and give them to new young recruits in some groups."
The purpose, she said, was to make it easier for recruits to kill.
Source http://allafrica.com/stories/201412060088.html
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