Bulgarian drug profits fund Lebanon's Hezbollah

by **Admin** Thu Apr 10, 2008 6:46 am

Profits
from drugs trafficking through Bulgaria have been used to fund
organizations like Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, the parliamentary
security commission said on Tuesday.

Bulgarian
crime groups trading in synthetic drugs and Arabs linked to militant
groups had been cooperating in the trafficking, said the draft report
obtained by Reuters and due to be debated in parliament this week.

"Part
of the money accumulated from drugs trafficking are being used to fund
terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad," said the
report. It gave no further details.

Lebanese
Hezbollah, a guerrilla group backed by Iran, fought a 34-day war in
2006 against Israel. Islamic Jihad is a Palestinian militant group
based in Gaza and sworn to destroying Israel.

Bulgaria lies on one of the main drug trafficking routes between Europe and southwest Asia.

There
is growing pressure on Bulgaria's Socialist-led government at home and
from the European Union to get serious about fighting rampant organized
crime and graft.

High-ranking
police officials were arrested last month and accused by prosecutors of
passing sensitive information to shadowy businessmen.

The
draft report, based on data from the national security agency, said
drug seizures had fallen after interior ministry officials passed
classified information to crime groups.

Last
week, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev gave the interior minister 10
days to draft plans to rid his ministry of corrupt police officers
linked to crime bosses.

The
report cites interior ministry data showing police seized 169 kilos of
amphetamines last year, compared with 324 in 2006 and 1,018 kilos in
2005.

Despite
its declared war on crime and corruption, Bulgaria has not charged any
senior officials with graft and has put only one organized crime boss
behind bars.

Local
observers and EU diplomats say politicians and magistrates are often
linked to crime groups, and tensions within the ruling coalition are
also not helping any clean-up.