Lebanese Drug Lord Charged in US: Links to Zetas and Hezbollah
Terrorist ties to Mexican drug cartels? I’m shocked!
A Lebanese drug kingpin who allegedly has connections to the Zeta drug cartel and Hezbollah has been charged with drug dealing and money laundering, the Justice Department and DEA announced today.
Ayman Joumaa, a.k.a ‘Junior,’ and his associates allegedly shipped an estimated 85,000 kilograms of cocaine into the United States and laundered more than $850 million in drug money coming out of Mexico from the Zeta cartel through front companies and The Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB).
In a federal indictment that was unsealed Monday, Joumaa was charged with cocaine distribution and money laundering.
In January, the Treasury Department designated Joumaa a major narcotics trafficker, alleging that he used cash exchange houses in Lebanon that had accounts with the Lebanese Canadian Bank. A month later the LCB was designated by Treasury as a ‘Primary Money Laundering Concern’
According to U.S. officials, Hezbollah has obtained financing from Joumaa and his associates. U.S. officials say some officers with the Lebanese Canadian Bank and subsidiaries have connections with Hezbollah.
The case shows the reach of Hezbollah’s financial support network. U.S. officials have long known about the group operating in South America’s tri-border area in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina where the group runs drugs and large scale counterfeiting networks, according to U.S. officials. In recent years there has been more recent concern about the group establishing a footprint in Central America.
‘The defendant’s coordination of money laundering activities occurred in the United States, Lebanon, Benin, Panama, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere,’ the indictment alleged.