4 charged for trying to sell drugs to fund terror

Four persons have been indicted for allegedly plotting to import drugs into the US to provide funds for the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hezbollah in Lebanon. They were caught in two separate undercover stings by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “Both (plots) were prepared to traffic in terrorism,not just drugs,” said Preet Bharara,the US attorney in Manhattan,at a news conference,as quoted by The Wall Street Journal.

In both cases,government informants posing as associates of Hezbollah and the Taliban told defendants the heroin was destined for the US and that the profits would be used to fund known terrorist groups. Taza Gul Alizai,an Afghan man,allegedly sold six AK-47 assault rifles and about 15 kg of heroin over a two-year period to a DEA informant who said sales would be given to the Taliban,according to one indictment.

In the other indictment,three men have been charged in alleged conspiracies to import heroin or to provide material support to Hezbollah. One,Sioavosh Henareh allegedly agreed to help informants import heroin to aid the Hezbollah,prosecutors said.