Cannabis cash linked to terrorism

[Tom]

Cannabis smokers are unwittingly funding Islamist extremists linked to terror attacks in Spain, Morocco and Algeria, according to a joint investigation by the Spanish and French secret services. The finding will be seized on both by campaigners for a harsher clampdown on cannabis and by those who argue that legalization is the only way to end a petty dealing trend that is dragging growing numbers of teenagers into crime.

 

The investigation by the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia and the Renseignements Generaux was launched after Spanish police found that the Islamists behind the March 2004 bombings in Madrid bought their explosives from former miners in return for blocks of hashish. The bombings claimed 191 lives.

 

Spain's role as a transit point for drugs was highlighted last week when Madrid hosted the US Drug Enforcement Agency's annual conference. Experts heard not only that North African hashish was funding terrorism in Europe, but also that West Africa had become a new hub for South American cocaine shipments bound for Europe.

 

Morocco is the world's leading cannabis exporter, with an annual crop estimated to be worth at least US$38 billion.

 

Last month, the Moroccan navy seized 3 tonnes of Europe-bound hashish off the Mediterranean port of Nador. The same week, Spanish coastguards seized 4.3 tonnes of Moroccan resin off Ibiza.

 

The joint secret service investigation finds that hashish is part of a `complex financing network' serving the Algeria-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, affiliated since last year to al-Qaeda. The group claimed responsibility for two bombings in Algiers on April 11 that killed 30 people and left 200 injured.

 

French terrorism expert Dominique Thomas said the link between drug dealing and Islamic terrorism was not new.

 

"The issue stands at the core of divisions within al-Qaeda between those who believe that the end justifies the means and others who argue that drugs are incompatible with Islam," he said.

 

Author: THE OBSERVER, PARIS

Date: May 14, 2007

Source: The Taipei Times

Copyright: © 1999-2007 The Taipei Times.

 

[WantDaChronic]

so a couple of ex miners got some hash instead of cash and that is funding the terrorists? if you ask me it sounds like they just wanted to get some good cheap smoko and sure they were bad and traded explosives or what ever for the hash, but imo it worked out better for both sides dealing in hash. would have been cheaper than buying the bombs for the terrorists and the miners get hash for alot cheaper than what it would have been if they paid for it

 

none the less, i think all the opium and cocoa growing around those regions would have alot more interest from terrorists than marijuana, but trust the politicians to go after the evil herb from hell

[Indycar]

Maybe the current legislation is propping up the blackmarket for the terrorist to finance these attacks. Decriminalize whatever illegal crops they're growing 'n wipe out their cash flow...

 

We all know that one, bar the tossin' pollies. Makes ya wonder if the got a vested interests in the whole deal...

 

[jabez]

If the US went and made the world ban sugar I'm sure a lot of bad people would start using that to finance there operations as well

 

I mean WTF, to think that people actually eat this stuff up

[Jess Stone]

Wank,wank legalize cannabis and the "problem" disappears. It reminds me of this wanky-do from last year.

 

Middle East: Now, Israelis Call for Boycott of Hezbollah Hashish

Israeli drug users have long been happy to puff on Lebanese hashish, but now, as war between the two countries rages, some are calling for a boycott because the cross-border trade helps finance Hezbollah, The Jewish Daily Forward reported Thursday. Hashish is the most popular form of marijuana in Israel, and Lebanon is the number one supplier, according to Israeli law enforcement..... full article

 

Gee I wonder how many Israeli stoners heeded the call and went straight? (my guesstimate = 0 )

Edited May 16, 2007 by Jess Stone

[Luke Skywalker]

Nope, they started growing their own....

[Pa-uul]

...Cannabis smokers are unwittingly funding Islamist extremists linked to terror attacks in Spain...

Yeah, it's for terrorism alright. The money people spend on drugs, especially drugs like heroin where the supply is centralised, such as in Afghanistan, is used to fund secret black ops such as the September 11 terrorist attacks, mass child abduction and paedophile rings, the Virginia Tech and Port Arthur massacres, the Oklahoma City Building bombing, and so on. The thing is it is not Islamic extremists but western industrialists and their partners in government. They also use the funds to run propaganda programs including the studies to show that marijuana "causes schizophrenia" as well as science black projects. They probably have some dinky flying saucers by now and will pretend, one day, that they're our alien overlords and that "we have damaged the planet" and we must obey them (when it was them who wrecked the planet); herd us on to a ships and then rape us and say "ha, ha. Fooled ya!" Oh, and their latest, favourite project: mass-scale population reduction programs under the guise of saving the environment. I believe this is what the man-made global warming hoax is all about. It's actually that the Sun is warming up. Mars' ice caps are melting at the same rate as Earth's showing that it's not all man-made. The Earth has always had ice ages followed by warm times, in cycles.

...Decriminalize whatever illegal crops they're growing 'n wipe out their cash flow...the tossin' pollies. Makes ya wonder if the got a vested interests in the whole deal...

Yeah, prohibitionists in the government must be benefiting from drug prohibition in some way. They, or their partners could easily profit directly from drug sales. Or, profit from industries that would have to compete with hemp. Or, just merely benefit from the increase in control on people's lives and create an underclass to exploit. They could make more criminals to put in jail to increase the prison industry. Or, profit from all of the health consequences by keeping alcohol and tobacco, two of the most damaging drugs, legal and all other drugs, including beneficial ones, illegal!

 

I just want to note that politicians supposedly have to give up any conflicting business interests when they enter parliament but that they could form alliances with other business people and then work to help them in a conspiracy that could reward them later on when they are out of politics.

 

Did you hear of those meetings Kevin Rudd had with the shady businessman in Perth – took all the headlines a few months ago but died down when it was revealed that a drug dealer had attended a Liberal party fund raising dinner around the same time, that John Howard was attending? Well, it seems like all the major parties are into it and it sure does stink.