Okaz Terrorism has intimate relations with drug trade and trafficking. The two are trans-world crimes which do not stop at borders. A day after another, the relationship between Hezbollah in Lebanon and the drugs becomes more clearer. Hezbollah depends on drug trafficking to finance its terrorist operations. Earlier this month, the US anti-narcotic department uncovered an international drug smuggling operation resulting in the arrest of a network of smugglers who are members of the notorious Hezbollah. The network has been involved in massive smuggling operations estimated at millions of dollars to finance terrorist operations in Syria and Lebanon. The drug-combating institutions have proved beyond doubt that the links between drugs and terrorism grow faster and closer with time. This, however, is not a new trend. The two have been tied together for more than 25 years. Out of 43 well-known and internationally recognized terrorist organizations, 19 have been maintaining close ties with the international drug trade. The Lebanese people are now openly speaking about the Captagon amphetamine factories owned by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Al-Qaeda terrorist organization has been growing opium in Afghanistan and Africa to use the heroine and other types of drugs as a steady source of income. An International Business Times report claims cocaine as an important revenue source for Daesh (the so-called IS) and other terrorist organizations active in north Africa and the African Sahel countries. The report said the drugs are sold in Europe to help finance terrorist operations in Africa and other countries of the world. Terrorists trade in everything, whether legitimate or illegal. They are gangs of criminals with a small difference which is that they use religion to beautify their ugly activities. So let us pray that we are safe from the two menaces.
