Gray Money

In late January, French authorities, at the behest of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), busted a European drug trafficking and money laundering cell. The DEA alleged that this cell was responsible for overseeing a Hezbollah narcotics trafficking and money laundering network. “These drug trafficking and money laundering schemes utilized by [Hezbollah] provide a revenue and weapons stream for an international terrorist organization responsible for devastating terror attacks around the world,” acting Deputy Administrator of the DEA, Jack Riley, said in a statement. The DEA alleges that the drug trafficking carried “large” amounts of cocaine between the United States, South American suppliers and Europe, the proceeds of which partly transited through Lebanon and then back to South America to be delivered to the drug cartels. This illegal transaction followed the same principle as Hawala, which in many cases is not used for criminal purposes. Hawala is defined as “money