Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Friday, February 3, 2012

‘Hell to Pay’ if Terrorists’ Link to Drug Cartels isn’t Checked

By Guy Taylor
The Washington Times
Collaboration between Latin American drug cartels and groups such as Iran's Quds Force and the Islamic terror group Hezbollah is growing “far faster than most policymakers in Washington, D.C., choose to admit,” a former U.S. intelligence official testified Tuesday.

Michael A. Braun, former chief of operations and intelligence for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), told lawmakers that the operational capability of such groups is being “strengthened by the close relations that they are working hard to develop with very powerful organized criminal organizations in our neighborhood and throughout Latin America.”

The ultraviolent Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel and others “allow them to operate freely in our neighborhood, and they’re getting closer to our doorstep,” he said during a hearing by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“If we don’t do something about it and really get serious about it, I think there’s gonna be hell to pay at some date in the probably not too distant future,” said Mr. Braun, who retired from the DEA in 2008 and is a managing partner at the international drug law enforcement consulting group Spectre International.

The committee’s chairwoman, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, asserted that Iran’s ongoing diplomatic alliance with several Latin American leaders could be giving the Islamic republic’s intelligence forces and proxy groups “a platform in the region to carry out attacks against the United States.”

“Some may question the congressional focus on the Iran-Latin America nexus because they wrongly believe that Iran’s influence in the region is exaggerated,” said Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican.

She called for the hearing amid mounting international concern over Iran’s nuclear program and on the heels of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent tour through Latin America.

Many policy analysts and Democrats have expressed skepticism over the extent to which a foothold has been gained in the region by Iranian intelligence elements, including the elite Quds Force, part of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“Several allegations have been made about Iran’s current activities in Latin America,” said Michael Shifter, who heads the nonpartisan inter-American Dialogue think tank and appeared alongside Mr. Braun at the hearing.

Mr. Shifter said that while some have made claims of Iranian agents sponsoring terror training camps and of Iranian support for prospecting uranium in Venezuela and Ecuador, such “charges have not, however, been substantiated.”

“There is no convincing evidence that such activities are taking place,” he said. “More plausible are repeated accusations of money laundering through the region’s banks, to help finance Hezbollah’s activities.”

Hezbollah, which is a key part of Lebanon’s government, has long enjoyed material and spiritual support from Iran’s Shiite-led regime.

But with the Iranian nuclear threat dominating headlines in recent weeks, Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen and others referred to Tuesday’s remarks by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper. He told the Senate Intelligence Committee that if Iran feels threatened, it could seek to launch terrorist attacks against targets inside the United States.

Mr. Clapper cited the charges filed in October by the Justice Department, which revealed a failed plot by Iranian officials to hire a Los Zetas assassin to kill a Saudi diplomat in Washington.

Mr. Braun pointed to the alleged plot as a legitimate example of Iranian ties to drug cartels: “We have the greatest system of justice in the world in our federal courts system, and it’s not an easy thing to get evidence admitted.”

Mr. Braun went on to reveal details about the secret 2008 DEA campaign Operation Titan, in which agents broke up a cocaine-smuggling and money-laundering ring believed to have been channeling funds to Hezbollah.

The operation, he said, resulted in the discovery of a “very close associate and affiliate of Hezbollah” who apparently was responsible for getting cocaine shipments from Latin America to West Africa and “ultimately responsible for collecting massive amounts of bulk cash.”

“Part of that operation involved the delivery of part of that money laundered to a DEA undercover operative, an agent that spoke fluent Arabic,” he said. “The agent actually took a delivery of $20 million dollars in cash as part of that investigation.”

34 comments:

  1. So Mr. Braun, a former DEA bureaucrat whose entire career depended on large scale federal funding of anti drug efforts and who now runs a company whose profits depend on continued federal anti drug funding claims there is terrorist involvement in Mexican cartels and that the U.S should increase its involvement (funding) in order to stop this........Yep, very reliable and objective source of intel he is.

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  2. shut your slut mouth

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  3. Collaboration between Latin American drug cartels and groups such as Iran's Quds Force and the Islamic terror group Hezbollah is growing “far faster than most policymakers in Washington, D.C., choose to admit,” a former U.S. intelligence official testified Tuesday.

    America please grow up and stop this bullshit, Narcos are the public enemy #1 but they are not stupid, they will not get involved with terrorist.

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  4. "lito"brito welcome back, long time no seen

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  5. If the Cartels are stupid enough to get in bed with the Islamic fundies then the USA will open up the biggest can of whoop-ass you ever seen. They will shoot first and ask questions later and to h*** with whoever doesn't like it.. . . .

    Or, in other words, "I don't think so."

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  6. This is a case of a sad sack federal ageny NOT involved in terror investigations trying to revive funding for their sad sack corner of the fed universe.

    Meanwhile ICE is shoveling as much money as they can to every border gang and cartel player with the promise that anyone with an Arabic name, who doesn't sound Mexican, will be either thrown to the dogs, or sent across the bridge with a bright red flag.

    Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is a representative of the Cuban mafia, who has no purpose other than to raise money for questionable activities in Latin America that has included drug smuggling.

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  7. It's a ploy from the us government to have a reason to go into Mexico and "search" for terrorists.

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  8. yeah 'im back so tell all my pets and my harlem coquettes mister otis is back in town...jajajaa...and especially for my numerous anymouse detractors...

    explanation for my absence...between computers..and was in Monterrey...and needed to keep my mouth shut


    yeah this bullshit is a real stretch.... the yid controlled media is trying ANY ploy to stir fear and resentment against Iran...Iran is operating a bank/lending system competing with the yid system...fatal error...they better have their defenses ready ...as soon as Obama is out ..or reminded of his REAL position ....the attack on Iran will begin in open..the covert ops have already begun..Iran is one of the three or four nations left without a yid controlled central banking system..and the only real viable one..N Korea is an anachronism, and will go the way of China under it's new younger Ipad toting leader...but Iran , ancient Persia, will have to be beaten into submission..the yids are stirring their army, also know as the US army into action...the zionists will begin the attack ..but our American blood and treasure will be expended to secure it for them...

    the best one yet is when the CNN propagandists/reporters/say that there are Iranian saboteurs ALREADY operation inside the US...the old enemy within/the enemy without ploy....

    erin burnett , member of the CFR will decry the necessity to become involved , and the American public will swallow it all like honey and whiskey

    so stay tuned kiddies...the start of the final conflict is at hand

    or maybe i am just crazy and spent too much time with mescalito

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  9. Chapo Bin Ladin
    El Mayo Bin Alshibh
    Lazca Abdul Mohammad
    Z-40 Al Zawahiri, you Murricans are a riot,
    Anonimous sources from not so credible organizations, next youll be tying Saddams WMD to Sinaloa Cartel.

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  10. "lito"brito" - You sound like a very ignorant little kid..You are the type of pendejo who probably believe Los Zetas are a family organization.WHy don't you go back and hide under whatever rock you were under!

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  11. February 4, 7:41 AM hay no mames Anonymous Mohammad Ladin

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  12. @ Briiiiiiito!
    Where the hell ya been? You and E1/Ardent seemed to have vanished at the same time, I was thinking you had it out at the OK Corral jeje or perhaps you were one in the same..(jk) seriously with your trips to Mty I was concerned.

    Nice you are back....Paz, Chivis aka Buela

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  13. ktal B THANKS!!!...yeap back to torment BB again..you have moved into reporter status...bueno ..thats great..hey ardy is on another post here..i just sent him a message ..yes .i was nice...to the old cabron...the gang is back in town ...BEWARE ALL WHO WOULD CONDRADICT US...jajajjaj...Ajulio is still here ...and Texco has turned reporter..what a crew

    i was in Monterrey for a while ...it is less desperate than before ..but still didn't make to bar international...goin back in about two weeks or so...gonna go dancing...hell or high water..jajajaj

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  14. Iran's Quds Force and Hezbollah both fund a large portion of their covert operations through the sale of narcotics. If anyone worth a cent spends 2 minutes a day skimming the news they will for damn sure know that Iran has their hands deep in the heroin and other narcotics pouring out of Afghanistan. Europe, Russia, and Africa are heavily saturated with these drugs. No doubt these middle eastern "terror" groups will be working to catch a chunk of the US sales as well. If you can't figure that out there is no point in listing out the further advantages these organizations are set to gain by building strong alliances with their new and powerful friends south of the #2 most hated country, the USA. (In Hezbollah and Iran's cold hearts of course.)

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  15. No "lito"brito I'm not a reporter, I do share information I find on the Internet with the BB readers.

    Welcome Back "lito"brito.

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  16. so who is number one most hated?

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  17. "Iran's Quds Force and Hezbollah both fund a large portion of their covert operations through the sale of narcotics."

    So does the CIA. Seems like standard operating procedure for intel agencies all over.

    "No doubt these middle eastern "terror" groups will be working to catch a chunk of the US sales as well."

    You must be that propagandist Mr Braun.
    1) Do you think for a second the cartels would share ANY chunk of their money with another group?

    2) What do you think the plaza wars are about?

    3) What would the cartels gain from the relationship besides heat from the feds?

    4) Do you think for a second anything other than money, NOT politics motivate the cartels?

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  18. i believe all countries use narcotic sales for various reasons US included,and I don't blame them . Mexico ,as we all know is our southern border,where drugs and illegals flow through somewhat easily. Why is it so hard for some of you to accept that terrorists wouldn't try to flow thru as well. Sleeper cells is the terrorists best weapons since we are oceans apart. It is naive for some of you to think otherwise.And to you 5:39 am we might sometimes be the puppets of Israel... but in this case ,we need to make sure these muslim extremists don't get nukes or none of us here will be blogging about the coke and weed coming across out Texas border because we won't have one/

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  19. Who are we kidding? we are at war with these terrorists and we are about to go to war with Iran. They can't fight us from over there but they can awaken the sleeper cells that the coyotes cross over for up to 50k. Now if these guys get nukes we are beyond fucked.Hell yes I believe the story and see it as a threat to our country the cartels use the Arabs to build the tunnels and ship their product to Europe.

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  20. February 5, 2012 1:17 PM

    You are at war with weeds
    at war with anything anti zionist
    at war with each other and eventually
    at war with anything that moves.
    only in Murrica will you fight anyone over a term called democracy but will give democracy up in a heartbeat for a kingdom, when a long haired jew lands his spaceship.

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  21. What do the cartels get? Well, knowledge and experience building tunnels to channel dope across (or under) the border. The sophistication of these tunnels has really gone up in recent years.

    Knowledge and experience with IEDs and explosives in general, which is being used against each other and against the Mexican government.

    Access to large stores of weapons and ammo. Access to overseas markets controlled by Iran/Hezbollah.

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  22. Don't fight weed enjoy it and it's obvious from ur post u do...

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  23. @ February 5, 2012 1:17 PM: u sure r a sad n mindless dud. too bad that they let someone like u vote, but hey! our democracy is a joke anyway so u aint doin any harm. Pheew!

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  24. Looky here..we have all these DTO experts on here, who are in the know! By reading the posts on here, obviously you "Internet rangers" have all the answers! You have one "beaner" on here, who thinks he's some BB star (lite brito)....all talk Gimme a break, you guys don' know shit about, what's going on..you claim to trip back and forth from Messico..and you heard this and you heard that...lol. I sincerely, highly doubt you trolls know more than American intelligence community or the Mexican intelligence community. News flash, just because gov'ts don't post their info on fucking amateur forums...doesn't mean nothing is happening or "they" don't know shit!!

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  25. @ February 6, 2012 11:17 AM

    another fan...welcome to my court puto celoso ...

    both Mexican and American "intelligence" communities are a contradiction in terms..but i will propose that they DO probably know more about the crime ..ONLY because some of their corrupt asses are heavily involved in it

    y uno cosa mas pendejo..you need to learn the intricacies of spell check , you illiterate moron...

    oh y algo mas..how do you define "beaner"...by frijoles blanco?..frijoles negro, frijoles coffee ..verdes..do tell Snr expert

    so I was told yesterday that there were some pastors of some churches were picked up and are being held for ransom in Santiago NL..no real details but from a pretty good source in Monterrey ...pretty low y cowardly to target the clergy

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  26. pretty stupid place to be calling people beaners mister brokeback mountain, you must really be a dumb mutherfucker huh?

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  27. @ February 5, 2012 8:35 PM

    well said , well said

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  28. 1) Do you think for a second the cartels would share ANY chunk of their money with another group?

    The drugs have to come from somewhere and last time I was in Afghanistan there sure as hell weren't a bunch of Zetas running around buying all the heroin and opium base off of the locals, but there were a few Iranians.

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  29. @Brito and Feb 6 @11:17AM
    Just woke up feeling poorly linked on to BB and now my nausea is worse :)...seriously, @11:17, Brito is not Mexican, but is very knowledgeable and makes frequent trips to Mty to visit his wife's family. When you are in Mex and know the country and are very familiar with certain areas you know when a person is blowing smoke.
    "beaner"? Who says that any more? You need to get an updated derogatory term. and Messico I coined a couple years ago.

    Brito: about the clergy kidnapping If true I hope it was those freak pedophiles from The Family International, they are headquartered in Santiago. Why the Mex press isn't all over that one is a mystery, and it is aggravating. You know who I am speaking of, right? they use children/sex to lure members they have a publication called "little fishes" about sex & children. So they are in Santiago and I keep praying narcos will take care of them since the gov is oblivious or doesn't care, as usual the cult is doing a few good deeds to win favor. Disgusting pervs. try and find out if the kidnapping is from this cult. see below...

    http://religiouschildabuse.blogspot.com/2011/02/fugitive-leaders-of-family.html
    I don't know if you twitter, but if you have a smart phone you can stay tuned to BB news via BB twitter page go to @borderland_beat All the mainboard stories are posted as some of forum, even when you are in Mty and not near a coumputer you won't miss a thing...Paz, B

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  30. Clapper has no idea who decided to provide America's enemies with military aid, yet he knows everything about the Iranian's relationship with the Cartels. Just how in the world does this posture get any credibility? Isn't it more likely that the CIA have partnered up with Chapo Guzman, and the Iranians have partnered up with the Zetas. And now they are both using violence to take control of Mexico's presidency. Mr. Clapper, operation FAST AND FURIOUS is in direct violation of Article 3 of the US Constitution, just what in the heck are you doing about it! And just what will it take to do your job? Does your eldest child need to become a meth head, aa gangbanger, or maybe a white collar drug dealer? Just who's side are you on?

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  31. @ B Chivis

    ...awwww..you gave me away..i was hoping to draw a little more out of this particular abusive pendejo..jajjaaa..and YES..they are guilty of plagiarizing the word messico ...

    i will try to find out more ..my source is pretty skittish about talking but mebbe they have heard something....

    i think i encountered some of these freaks in Ft. Collins CO. several years ago...they had some pretty girls out trolling for recruits...typical...and i think the same bunch that was featured a few years ago on 60 mins or some other investigative report ...featuring some old guru type marrying 14 year olds.....also typical...like that jeffs , mormon guy who just got sentenced ..for some similiar s(*t

    i will be back in Monterrey in a couple of weeks or so and i will try to get a little info on them


    i almost gagged when i read the little bath scene...
    one of my special hates are for nasty ass religous freaks like this ...please let it be them that were affected

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  32. Very interesting which religious group owns a shit load of us borderland from McAllen to Brownsville and beyond including water rights to rio...one would guess the Mexicans ,but, they would be wrong it's the Jews ,Russian,Israeli,German, more then likely they will fuck it up blame it on the Iranians then collect the insurance ,also they are stealing all pemexs oil and providing weapons in exchange

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  33. "It's a ploy from the us government to have a reason to go into Mexico and "search" for terrorists."

    They don't need a ploy. Clean up your mess or someone will come and do it for you.

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