Al Qaeda's £168million cocaine smugglers: terror group flooding Britain with drugs

 

Al Qaeda's £168million cocaine smugglers: terror group flooding Britain with

drugs

28 Apr 2013 00:33

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/al-qaedas-168million-cocaine-smugglers-1857934

 

 

 

Profits are being used to fund terror plots in the UK and western Europe

 

Al Qaeda has teamed up with other terror groups to smuggle cocaine to

Britain, the Sunday People has ­discovered.

 

One plot involved a staggering four tons of the illegal drug with a street

value of £168million.

 

Al Qaeda, led by 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden until his death in May

2011, is using profits to fund terror plots in the UK and western Europe.

 

And they have paid for the cocaine with weapons looted in Libya during the

mayhem following the death of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.

 

Spooks from MI6 and the UK’s criminal intelligence agency SOCA have joined

forces to investigate al Qaeda’s links to drug cartels and terrorist groups

in Africa and South America.

 

Two Colombians – one a member of left-wing terror movement FARC – were

arrested after a probe by the US Drugs Enforcement Agency.

 

It is understood the South American group, now a major ­cocaine cartel, sold

a large quantity of the drug to bin Laden’s North African branch, al Qaeda

of the Islamic Maghreb.

 

They paid using cash and also weapons looted in Libya.

 

The drug was shipped to North Africa and moved across the Mediterranean into

southern France where it is believed to have been distributed to other

European ­countries, including the UK.

 

A second operation carried out by secret intelligence groups led to the

arrest of the former head of the navy in West Africa’s Guinea-Bissau, now

classed as a “narco-state” because of its reliance on the cocaine trade.

 

Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto and six others have now been flown to

New York and charged with drugs trafficking. Four also face terrorism

charges.

 

They were caught in a sting ­operation in which they believed they were

talking to members of FARC. They agreed to supply ground-to-air missiles and

a quantity of AK-47 assault rifles and grenade launchers in exchange for

four tons of cocaine with a street value of £168million.

 

Al Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb has long been involved with cocaine

traffickers, receiving large payments to ensure drug runners could safely

cross the Algerian Sahara with multi-million-pound consignments.

 

But spies say this is the first time evidence has emerged suggesting the

organisation are themselves trafficking cocaine into Europe.

 

A highly placed crime ­intelligence source in London said: “It is a very

worrying development and both MI6 and SOCA will be working ­together to find

out as much as they can.

 

“When there is an overlap between straightforward crime and security

matters, the two agencies work together. There will be a lot of interaction

with security forces from several countries.

 

“France will be particularly involved given the Algerian connection and the

fact that France seems to be the main entry point for the al Qaeda

shipments. There will also be strong American interest.’’

 

In January 2009 Briton Edwin Dyer, 60, was kidnapped by al Qaeda of the

Islamic Maghreb while ­holidaying in Niger.

 

He was held hostage for five months before being beheaded in neighbouring

Mali, where his ­captors have vowed to set up “an Afghanistan in Africa”

despite a French military operation to kick them out.

 

Meanwhile in Afghanistan the Taliban announced the start of their spring

offensive. Almost 500 people, including 217 insurgents, have already been

killed there this month.

 

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