Lebanon’s Shiite movement
Hezbollah denied on Thursday any links with a drug-ring captured in
Colombia and said such reports are aimed at defaming the image of the
movement.
‘This is part of a
Zionist campaign against the movement to defame its picture and they
are based on pure lies,’ said Nawaf al Mussawi, Hezbollah’s foreign
affairs officer.
Mussawi met with the
Colombian Ambassador to Lebanon, Georgina Mallat and handed her a
condemnation letter, which stated that Hezbollah ‘does not participate
in outlawed missions.’
Colombian authorities said on Tuesday
that they had broken up a drug and money laundering ring in an
international operation that included the capture of three people
suspected of shipping funds to Hezbollah guerrillas.
More
than 100 suspects were arrested in Colombia and overseas on charges
that they trafficked drugs and laundered cash for Colombia’s Norte del
Valle cartel and outlawed paramilitaries, in a network that stretched
from South America to Asia, the attorney’s general office said.
‘The criminal
organization used routes through Venezuela, Panama, Guatemala, the
Middle East and Europe, bringing in cash from the sale of these
substances,’ the statement said.
Among those arrested in
Colombia were three people suspected of coordinating drug smuggling to
send some of their profits to groups like Hezbollah, the office said.
Those suspects — Chekry
Mahmoud Harb, Ali Mohamad Abdul Rahim and Zacaria Hussein Harb — used
front companies to send drug cash overseas, it stated, without
providing further details. (DPA)