From Colombia to Lebanon to Toronto: How a DEA probe uncovered Hezbollah's Canadian money laundering ops https://globalnews.ca/news/5084587/hezbollahs-canadian-money-laundering-ops/ ...The so-called Business Affairs Component was tasked with funnelling its cut from billions in drug smuggling and professional money laundering proceeds directly into Hezbollah’s military objectives, according to DEA records and statements from Colombian prosecutors. And criminals and businesses in China and Hong Kong were a big part of these professional money-washing schemes. But Hezbollah wasn’t just interested in drug trafficking in order to fund guns and bombs. According to a DEA affidavit obtained by Global News, they also realized the military benefits of making connections with global drug traffickers. It’s a view that some Canadian military and financial intelligence experts confirmed in background interviews. Hezbollah assessed that this new business was “damaging or weakening their enemies both in the form of drug addiction and in terms of the societal and economic costs associated with combating trafficking and addiction,” the affidavit filed September 2016 in Miami’s U.S. District Court says. ...What really surprised a U.S. official looking back at investigation evidence records was how prominent Canadian cities were to Hezbollah’s operations — in a group with narco-hubs like Panama, Beirut and Jordan — and how disinterested the RCMP was. "“It really bothered me. It was very clear how Canada was a very, very big part of Hezbollah’s transnational narco-terrorism,” the source said. “But RCMP made it very clear at that time, they didn’t want to bear down on money laundering and drug trafficking. So when I see what is happening now in Vancouver, I have to think back to what we were seeing.”*