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Hezballah's counterfeit business

LA Times:

When Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. John Stedman was booking a clothing store owner last year on charges of selling counterfeit high-fashion merchandise, his attention was drawn to the large and colorful tattoo on the man's arm.

The tattoo included Arabic writing, suggesting it wasn't a gang symbol or the mark of one of the many organized crime syndicates that have helped make dealing in knockoff goods — like Gucci handbags, Prada shoes and Louis Vuitton watches — a multibillion-dollar industry in the United States.

It turned out to be a symbol of allegiance to Hezbollah, the Islamic militant organization that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist group.

The case of the tattooed merchant was one of several in Southern California in which alleged Hezbollah operatives had been caught trafficking in counterfeit merchandise, Stedman and other experts told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

They said that suspected Hezbollah operatives in the U.S. and other groups accused of terrorist activity were raising as much as $30 million a year in America through the sale of counterfeit merchandise and other criminal enterprises, and sending unknown but substantial sums back home.

...

In another case, U.S. Customs officers stopped a Lebanon-bound suspect at Los Angeles International Airport and found she was carrying more than $230,000 in cash, Stedman said. Authorities later learned the woman owned a chain of cigarette shops, and seized more than 1,000 cartons of bootleg cigarettes, an additional $70,000 in cash, and wire transfers to banks throughout the world, Stedman said.

Kris Buckner, president of the Investigative Consultants group in Southern California, told the committee that numerous counterfeiters had sent large amounts of money to places such as Lebanon and Paraguay, which U.S. officials said had been a hub for Hezbollah fundraising.

The United States has asked for a worldwide freeze of Hezbollah's financial accounts. But several European nations have refused to do so, citing the group's political wing. U.S. officials contend both groups are controlled by the same leadership, and that the money ultimately helps underwrite terrorism no matter which part of Hezbollah receives it.

The Euros are not that interested in fighting terrorism against Israel.