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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| U.S. Hits Alleged Lebanese Drugs Network Figures with Sanctions |
| 2012-06-28 |
| [An Nahar] The United States on Wednesday named five Colombia and Venezuela-based men as key players in a sprawling trafficking and money laundering network of alleged Hizbullah-linked Lebanese drug lord Ayman Joumaa. The U.S. Treasury set sanctions on two Lebanese-born men, Abbas Hussein Harb and Ibrahim Chibli, for helping Joumaa launder what it said were millions of dollars of narcotics-related proceeds. Harb led a network based in Colombia and Venezuela that moved the money through Lebanese banks; Chibli helped in his position as a branch manager of Leb's Finicia Bank to help the operation, the Treasury said. Treasury named Lebanese-Colombian Ali Mohamad Saleh as a "key controller" for Hizbullah, raising money for the cut-thoat group in Latin America. Two others, Harb's brother Ali Houssein Harb and Saleh's brother Qassem Mohamad Saleh were targeted with sanctions for running companies in Venezuela and Colombia that are linked to the Joumaa group. The United States set its sights on the Joumaa network over the past two years after investigations showed the group has laundered as much as $200 million a month from mainly drug trafficking, according to the U.S. Treasury. He was indicted in the United States last November for allegedly leading a network that helped ship tons of cocaine from Colombia via Mexico's Los Zetas cartel to the United States. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 And I don't see where 'sanctions' have actually provided any real hinderance to any miscreant at any time anywhere. They've only served as a method whereby a politician (or gaggle thereof) can say to his/her adoring public that they've accomplished something, albeit with no more teeth than a 'Strongly Worded Letter®'. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2012-06-28 08:43 |
| #1 I don't see where any action was actually taken against Joumaa. |
| Posted by: American Delight 2012-06-28 06:12 |