ORGANIZATIONS
Terrorist organizations throughout history have at least one thing in common - the need for funds to keep their organization running. Almost all terrorist organizations have links to criminal activities. While the topic of terrorist financing is too broad to be fully discussed in this thesis, below are just a few examples of terrorist organizations and the link between criminal endeavors and the financing of their activities.
In the 1970s, the IRA funded its operations through a variety of criminal activities, which included robberies, kidnappings, extortion and illegal drinking clubs.182
178 “NARCO-Terrorism: International Drug Trafficking and Terrorism--A Dangerous Mix,” Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, First Session, May 20, 2003.
179 U.S. Department of State, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 2006-07.
180 Linda D. Kozaryn, “Ashcroft says Terrorism-Drug Trafficking Link ‘Shocking,’” U.S.
Department of Defense (Washington: American Forces Press Service, July 31, 2002), http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=43601 (accessed September 2008).
181 Charles Allen, “Narco-Trafficking: What is the Nexus with the War on Terror?” Remarks by the Under Secretary at the AFCEA-SOUTHCOM “South 2008” Conference Panel, (Miami, Florida, October 2008).
182 Michael Jonsson and Svante Cornell, “Countering Terrorist Financing: Lessons Learned From Europe,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (Winter/Spring 2007), 70.
In the 1980s, the IRA changed its method of financing by abandoning activities deemed too risky for the financial return and too costly when considering public displeasure.183
Likewise, Spain’s Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) also turned to criminal enterprise to fund its activities. In addition to a revolutionary tax that was imposed in the Basque region,184 ETA relied upon robberies and kidnappings to fund their operations.185 Following the IRA’s example, ETA also stopped criminal activities that were too violent or deemed too risky for the financial gain.186
Two major Colombian terrorist groups derive their funding from trafficking in cocaine. Both the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia (AUC) receive more than half of their funding through cocaine production, taxation and trafficking.187 Formed in 1965, the FARC currently raises $200 - 300 million annually through the illegal drug trade.188 The FARC also raises funds through kidnapping and extortion schemes.189
The French authorities discovered in 1996 that a series of armed robberies were perpetrated by the Roubaix gang, a small Islamic militant group.190 This group had also committed robberies in Bosnia to fund the jihad.191 While most of the members of the
183 Michael Jonsson and Svante Cornell, “Countering Terrorist Financing: Lessons Learned From Europe,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (Winter/Spring 2007), 70.
184 Loretta Napoleoni, Modern Jihad: Tracing the Dollars Behind the Terrorist Networks (Sterling VA: Pluto Press, 2005), 38.
185 Michael Jonsson and Svante Cornell, “Countering Terrorist Financing: Lessons Learned From Europe,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (Winter/Spring 2007), 70.
186 Ibid., 71.
187 Kim Petersen, “Drug Smuggling Implications for Terrorism,” INTERSEC: The Journal of International Security 15, no. 1 (January 2005), 6-9.
188 Stephanie Hanson, “FARC, ELN: Colombia’s Left-Wing Guerillas,” Backgrounder, March 11, 2008, http://www.cfr.org/publication/9272/ (accessed September 2008).
189 Ibid.
190 Hayder Mili, “Tangled Webs: Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups,” Terrorism Monitor 4, no. 1 (Jamestown Foundation, January 12, 2006),
http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2369866 (accessed June 2008).
191 Ibid.
Roubaix gang were killed in shoot-outs with police, a co-leader of this organization Lionel Dumont was sentenced to 30 years in prison in December 2005 for his role in the 1996 armed robberies.192
Similarly, the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) received funding from trafficking in drugs, arms, stolen vehicles and forged documents.193 GIA’s members continue to fund its activities through its criminal activities.194 Through these criminal financing efforts, one member, Fateh Kamel, developed links to al Qaeda and the millennium bomber.195
Hezbollah has raised significant funds through their criminal activities. Through Operation Smokescreen, in 2000 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms uncovered a cigarette smuggling ring that bought cigarettes in states with low tax only to resell them in states with a higher tax with profits again being given to Hezbollah.196 In 2002, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s Operation Mountain Express uncovered a drug ring that smuggled pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in methamphetamine, from Canada into the Midwest with proceeds being funneled to Hezbollah.197
There are numerous examples of groups obtaining funding predominantly from drug trafficking. Afghanistan’s former Taliban regime financed itself through local
192 Craig Whitlock, “Trial of French Islamic Radical Sheds Light on Converts’ Role,” Washington Post, January 1, 2006, A01,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/31/AR2005123101056_pf.html (accessed June 2008).
193 Hayder Mili, “Tangled Webs: Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups,” Terrorism Monitor 4, no. 1 (Jamestown Foundation, January 12, 2006),
http://jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2369866 (accessed June 2008).
194 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Terrorism, (April 20, 2008), http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2007/103708.htm (accessed September 2008).
195 Hayder Mili, “Securing the Northern Front: Canada and the War on Terror,” Terrorism Monitor 3, no. 14 (Jamestown Foundation, July 15, 2005),
http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2369744 (accessed September 2008).
196 “U.S. Authorities Bust Cigarette-smuggling Ring Linked to Hezbollah,” CNN, July 21, 2000, http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LAW/07/21/charlotte.raids.02/index.html (accessed September 2008).
197 “Drug Money for Hezbollah?” CBS News, September 1, 2002,
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/01/attack/main520457.shtml (accessed September 2008).
opium and heroin trade.198 Additionally, the Kosovo Liberation Army received a large portion of their funds through drug trafficking.199 The Kurdistan Workers Partyalso was dependent upon drug trafficking as a source of revenue.200
While al Qaeda itself financed the 9/11 attacks with donations from various sources which include charities and private donors,201 the government of the United States has not determined precisely how al Qaeda raises its funds or how they are distributed.202 Charitable organizations however now face increased pressure regarding any possible funding of terrorist groups.203 The Jamestown Foundation found that due to this increase of pressure, criminal activities including drug trafficking and robbery are quickly becoming a primary source of terrorism funding for al Qaeda.204