You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Home Front: WoT
Busted U.S. drug ring was funding Hezbollah
2007-11-10
A seemingly small-time drug ring busted this week in Los Angeles was actually targeted for funding the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah, the Daily News has learned. Prosecutors left out the terror tie when they announced Tuesday that federal agents and local cops had arrested a dozen people for allegedly peddling cocaine and counterfeit clothing in Bell, Calif.

U.S. Attorney's Office announced the names of the dozen people that were arrested as follows:
Ali Khalil Elreda , 32, of Bell;
Mohamad Elreda, Ali's brother, 25, of Bell
Susanne Elreda, Ali's sister, 34, of Smyrna, Ga.
Hussein Saleh Saleh, 37, of Bell
Robert Bell, 36, of Corona
Dalisa Johnson, 37, of Corona
Moussa Matar, 48, of Cudahy
Mohamad Matar, Moussa's son, 28, of Cudahy
Ali Matar, Mohamad's twin brother, 28, of Cudahy
Juan Gonzalez, 26, of Lynwood
Frankie Higuea, 24, of Downey
Crystal Hill, 25, of Hawthorne
Two additional defendants, Epifanio Mercado, 29, of Perris, and Ricardo Nava, of El Monte, were arrested over the weekend, prosecutors said. Three fugitives still remain at-large: Hassan Saleh Salehy, Hussein's brother, 36; Juan Galindo, age unavailable, of Cudahy; and Alfonso Bernal Barron, age and hometown unavailable.

The focus of the federal investigation was Ali Khalil Elreda, 32, who was detained at Los Angeles International Airport last year, accused of trying to smuggle $120,000 in money orders and cashier's checks, hidden in a child's toy, to Lebanon, according to an indictment and an affidavit filed in the case.

Several sources familiar with the investigation said the predominantly Arab-American and Latin gang was believed to have smuggled its crime cash to the Syrian and Iranian-backed group which is listed by US as a terrorist organization. "This was a classic case of terrorism financing, and it was pretty sophisticated how they did it," a source close to Operation Bell Bottoms told The News.

The Justice Department's national security division and an FBI counterterrorism agent have signed all the court filings. Because information linking the gang to Hezbollah came from classified intelligence, the alleged ringleader and "his siblings and associates" face criminal charges instead of a terror rap.
Posted by:Fred

#4  I didn't know that, Jack. Illuminating. Yours too, Seafarious.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-11-10 14:11  

#3  Do you believe in coincidences?

A little less every day, Jack.

Danish politician with Syrian father and Palestinian mother could be kingmaker in... Denmark.
Posted by: Seafarious   2007-11-10 12:28  

#2  Not surprising considering the world's richest man is a Mexican-Lebanese and remember when Carlos Menem was President of Argentina the Jewish Cultural Center was bombed by Hizbollah. I was driving in from Eziza on the main highway which was elevated as it approached centro and you could see the smoke blooming from the explosion. Oh, yeah. Carlos Menem of Syrian extraction. Do you believe in coincidences?
Posted by: Jack is Back!   2007-11-10 12:22  

#1  But they'll get maximum sentences, and be deported when their sentences are complete. And of course, the FBI and Homeland Security get access to their computers, cell phones, bank accounts... all sorts of fun things for their clever boys and girls to play with!
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-11-10 07:42  

00:00