Al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups have become increasingly involved in transporting illicit drugs to Europe. While playing the role of drug traffickers, they utilize the sea lanes of the South Atlantic to carry narcotics from Latin American to West and North Africa.

According to the Washington Times, "a Middle Eastern intelligence official said his agency has picked up 'very worrisome reports' of rapidly growing cooperation betwen Islamic militants operating on North and West Africa and drug lords in Latin America."

The official speaking on the condition of anonymity owing to the nature of his work, said, "the South Atlantic has become a no-man's sea." His comment on the new route was confirmed by a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

The Washington Times quotes DEA spokesman Michael Sanders as saying that, "the Colombians have shifted their focus from sending cocaine through the Caribbean, and they saw an opportunity to sell cocaine in Europe, transshipping it through the South Atlantic from Venezuela and then to Africa, through Spain and into Europe. That's what we're seeing. It's just a new location. That's the route they're taking for the most part."

In March, the Washington Times reports that Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group, is heavily involved in the drug trade. Increasingly, as well, Sunni groups linked to al-Qaeda are dealing in narcotics to finance their organizations, specialists revealed.

Chris Brown, a senior research associate at the Potomac Institute outside Washington D.C., said, "it's a weapon against the infidels in the West. As long as the target of the drug trade is the infidels, they have no problem doing it."

To read the entire article from the Washington Times, link here:

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