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Africa Al-Qaeda members held for in New York for drug and narcortics ring; with operations in Ghana

“Today’s allegations reflect the emergence of a worrisome alliance between Al-Qaeda and transnational narcotics traffickers,” US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

“As terrorists diversify into drugs, however, they provide us with more opportunities to incapacitate them and cut off the funding for future acts of terror.”

The men, arrested Wednesday in Ghana, are accused of contacting undercover informants in that country who were posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Latin America’s longest-standing guerilla outfit.

The men said Al-Qaeda could provide protection for the transportation of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from West Africa through North Africa and ultimately into Spain.

It is the first time associates of Al-Qaeda have been charged with “narco-terrorism offenses,” the Justice Department said in a press release.

“These narco-terrorists do not respect borders and do not care who they harm with their drug trafficking conspiracies,” said Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart.

“Working with our narcotics law enforcement partners in Ghana and across the globe, DEA is making unprecedented progress in dismantling illicit drug networks in western Africa and around the world, and putting the criminals who operate them behind bars, where they belong.”

Ourmar Issa, Harouna Toure and Idriss Abelrahman were each charged with one count of narco-terrorism conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Another count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The Justice Department said the three men intended to support Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), and FARC — all designated terrorist organizations by the United States.

The members also allegedly discussed the possibility of kidnapping foreign nationals to “raise money for the cause.”

Kidnapping by extremist militia groups for financial gain has risen sharply in recent years, becoming a lucrative business for AQIM, Al-Qaeda’s North African branch.

Last September, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika warned the United Nations General Assembly that “ransoms are now the principal source of finance for terrorism.”

Anti-drug investigators also believe that the recent discovery of a burnt-out Boeing airliner in the Malian desert, which the United Nations said was used to transport cocaine from Venezuela, demonstrated a sure link between organized crime gangs and Islamist militants. ref: AFP